


So now you know

by jasminemai



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Kidfic, O/C - Freeform, Tommy is alive, mom! felicity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-10-12 13:43:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10492143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasminemai/pseuds/jasminemai
Summary: She meets Oliver Queen for the first time on a Wednesday.Or where Felicity Smoak is mother to a rambunctious five year old when she meets Oliver Queen at work and everything changes from there.





	1. Chapter 1

The shrill sound of her phone startles her awake. It’s early, she knows that much because if there’s anything that she can keep track of it’s her truly inconsistent sleep cycle. 

“Hello?” Her voice sounds sleepy and her tone is crabby. She can’t find it within herself to care that much about the current situation if she’s being perfectly honest with herself. She likes her sleep and tends to detest anything that that means she doesn’t get enough.

“I’m sorry.” The voice is crackly, poor connection type crackly but even then, she recognises it. How could she not. It was the voice that she had wanted to hear in person for, well she doesn’t want to think about that.

“Sara?” she chokes it out, finding the words and the breath to do so with a strength that she didn’t know she possessed.

“I can’t tell you what I’m sorry for, not all of it anyway, but I guess I’m mostly sorry for not being there for you,” she knows that voice as well as her own and can hear the tears choking Sara’s voice. 

She takes a moment to try and compose herself, willing herself out of this nightmare. She’s had it before, dreamt of what her best friends’ final moments had been like before the boat had gone under. She didn’t know the full details, nobody did but that wasn’t to say that she wasn’t adept at making things up in her head.  
She silently begs the grief to not overwhelm her. It’s a battle she’s already lost. 

“Sara where are you?”

“I’m safe for now. That’s why I can call you. I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Come home.”

“You know I can’t.”

“I need you here, with me! We were meant to be tackling this adult thing together remember? That was the deal.” The longer she spends on the phone the harsher her voice becomes and the quicker the fire starts to burn in her heart. “Have you spoken to your family?”

The line crackles as Sara remains silent. 

“Sara?” The anger disappears the moment the thought of her best friend leaving her again enters her mind. She doesn’t want to go through all of this again.

“I love you, Smoaky,” Sara says, her voice filled with the tears that she imagines are running down her blond-haired friends face. 

“Love you too, Sar-Bear.” They’re ridiculous pet names used for nothing but relentless teasing but they belong to them and them alone. It’s a small comfort that even in death they share this one thing. 

“Don’t miss me too much.” The line goes dead and Felicity is left with nothing but the dead silence on her phone and a screaming baby in the next room.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

She meets Oliver Queen for the first time formally on a Wednesday. She’s imagining life anywhere but at work, doing anything but the boring software updates her boss had instructed her to do. 

He comes bearing a charm filled smile and a bullet ridden laptop and it’s then that she can’t help but understand her best friend’s actions just a little better. If a billionaire had smiled at her life that when she was 20 then of course she would have gotten on a yacht bound for China on a whim.

“Felicity Smoak?” he double checks, glancing down at the name plaque. 

“That’s me!” She says all too brightly for someone who has had maybe three hours of sleep in the last forty-eight hours.

“Great!” He says, turning the charm up on her just a little more. “I’m Oliver Queen-“

“I know, you’re kind of my boss, Mr. Queen,” the words leave her lips before she can even comprehend her response.

“Mr. Queen was my father-“

“Except he’s dead, which is so insensitive I’m so sorry!” Saying she was mortified would perhaps be the biggest understatement of the year. “So, right, what can I help you with, not dead Mr. Queen.” Would a punch in the face be too much to ask right now, or being swallowed whole could help also? She wasn’t fussed.

“I was wondering if you’d be able to help me, see I have this laptop and it’s not working and I was just wondering if there would be anyway for you to salvage any information off it.” To Oliver’s credit he’s non-pulsed by her blabbermouth and continues despite her complete stupidity.

He hands it out to her as she studies it further. “How did you end up with bullet holes in it?”

“My coffee shop is in a rough neighbourhood,” he deadpans, face settling into one of complete calm. It unnerves her for a moment, not expecting anyone who had been through what he had to be so convincingly okay.

She glances back at her computer where the latest patch is downloading and then back at him and then the laptop in his hands. “It’s going to take a while, because, you know, I’ve got a day job but after that, sure I’ll see what I can do. It will take a while though. One time I spilt OJ all through this PC that I had built in like junior year or something and boy I have never seen that much smoke or fire come from one hard-drive. Not that this is in anyway like what I just said, just that computers and liquids especially the milky kind are never good for computers. You know what I’m going stop talking because every time I open my mouth bad words seem to fall out.”

“It’s fine. I didn’t have a whole lot of people to talk to me when I was on the Island. It’s a nice change just to hear someone else’s voice,” his eyes darken considerably and he seems to take great interest at his feet. “Here’s my number, so ah, call me when you’ve finished or when you’ve sort of found something or whatever.”

“Okay, will do.” She smiles at him, placing the card in her card older that usually just help her post it notes.

He gives her one final smile before walking back out the door again. She pretends she doesn’t notice the way he looks back at he once final time. She also ignores how her heart flutters a little at the thought.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tommy meets her at the closest Big Belly Burger to her house when she finishes work that evening. She’d spent the better part of the afternoon working on Oliver’s laptop project all the while ignoring the hinky feeling in the pit of her stomach.

“I met your best friend today,” she says by way of geeting.

He laughs through his milkshake. “Hello to you too Smoak.”

“He’s different then I thought, all serious and brooding,” she swipes a fry as she says it laughing at Tommy’s betrayed expression.

“If you want food go and order it yourself.”

“But someone else’s food tastes so much better!”

She excuses herself for a moment to place her usual order, before going back to her and Tommy’s table. 

“So, what did my best friend want?”

She pauses, “he wants some help readjusting to society.” 

Tommy raises an eyebrow. “Oh really?”

“Not like that you fool, technology wise. You should have seen this brick of a laptop he brought in to me. Like I can fix something that comes from the Jurassic age. Which I can because I’m a certified genius in every conceivable way.” She takes a breath. “That was totally not the point of all of that. But yeah he wanted help. I’m giving him help.”

“Oh bless, my two best friends being friends by themselves.”

“I wouldn’t call us friends. I do work for him after all.”

“You will be.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I know you both better then you seem to think.”

“Right. Gotcha. You’re feeling psychic.”

“Damn straight I am.”

The pair fall into companionable silence, eating their meals both lost in thoughts. 

“Hey,” Tommy startles, “where’s your mini me tonight?”

“She’s at soccer practise until 8 and then Leah’s mom is bringing them here for ice-cream.” She checks her watch for the time, realising she only has fifteen minutes left of peace before there’s 15 rambunctious five year olds swarming the counter. 

“That’s a bit late isn’t it? Isn’t her bed time 8:30?”

“It’s a one off because they’ve got to matches on the weekend to work out who gets into the finals. I wasn’t really paying attention to be honest.” In fairness, she’s pretty sure that she’s kinda winning on the mom front given that her kid is a straight A student. She can’t be expected to keep up with sport. Even the thought of it makes her skin crawl. She just doesn’t like sports.

Tommy laughs at her reaction, having been forced into taking her daughter to two thirds of her soccer games over the last two years. “So, you remember that you have that spa voucher that I gave you for Christmas last year still tucked away unused.”

“I know. But between a full time job and a kid I don’t have time to be pampered Tommy. Someone has to pay the bills.”

“Settle down, I was merely suggesting that you accidentally disappear for a little while during during on of the games and get a mani-pedi, a full body massage and maybe a hair treatment because not only are your roots showing but your ends are looking a little worse for wear.”

Automatically her leg jolts out to land a kick against Tommy’s shin, uncaring of the damage in the process. He’s not wrong though. The last time she’d tried to do her hair, well, there was a temper tantrum and bleach in her eyes and a trip to the emergency room along with a very embarrassed call to Detective Lance. Not one of her best moments, of that she was absolutely sure. And the mani-pedi sounded divine. 

Would her daughter really begrudge her for missing maybe three hours?

The answer was fairly simple. Yes. Yes she would.

Unless. “If you invite Laurel to watch the game with you then she might not care that I’m missing.”

Tommy frowns at her. Even though he’d grown accustomed to their friendship over the last five years, he always felt unsettled by the fact that upon her death, Sara Lance’s older sister had taken her best friend under her wings. Not that he would admit it to anyone but himself, but the idea that the two most important women in his life were like sisters honestly scared the crap out of him.

“That’s all it would take to win over the littlest Smoak?” He sounds unconvinced. She is too, she's not going to lie.

Felicity laughs. “Tommy considering you’ve been in her life since before she was born I think it’s going to be a pretty safe call that you’ve already won her over.”

“Hey! Don’t judge! I’m just hedging my bets for when she reaches puberty alright?” The very thought of her daughter reaching puberty strikes the fear of god into both of them, something that between herself, Tommy and Laurel they’ve discussed at length.

She checks her watch as the front door swings open and the sound of children chattering away reaches her ears. 

“Showtime,” she mouths to Tommy while pulling a face of complete disgust, causing him to half choke on his burger.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

She almost considers not calling him when she finally finishes up with his bullet ridden laptop. But then curiosity gets the better of her and suddenly she’s dialling the cell phone number that he’d given her two days ago. He answers on the third ring, his voice gruff and anger filled.

“Hi, it’s Felicity Smoak, you left your laptop with me a few days ago and I was just wondering if when you wanted it back,” the words come out slightly more jumbled then she would have preferred but she guesses that she can’t really help it now.

There’s a deep shuddering breath on the other side and she can already feel herself tensing up at the sound of it. “Oh, right, thanks,” his voice is back to normal, “when are you free?”

“Well, um, I’m not particularly swapped at work right now, or any day really that suits. I do work for you, remember?”

He laughs quietly, more a chuckle then a laugh but it’s something. “I’ll be right down.” He hangs up before she has a chance to say anything in reply, leaving her alone at her desk wondering what on Earth she’s just done. 

He gets to her office in what has to be record time, a bright, businessman smile on his face. “Felicity!” he exclaims up upon seeing her. “How are you?”

“Good!” Is all she can reply as soon as she lays eyes in him. His eyes are darker then they were the other day, as if there was an anger belaying the businessman like exterior he  
wore around QC. 

He stares at her expectantly when she doesn’t elaborate further. 

“Right, the laptop. Gotcha. Good news is that I was able to save most of the hard drive from being corrupted by the bullets-“

“Coffee,” he corrects with a smirk.

“Right coffee. What I’ve done is move all of the brainy parts of your laptop into a newer, coffee proof laptop so it shouldn’t happen again. And everything else, well I’ve put on a USB.” She holds both out too him. “Look, I don’t wanna get involved in any family drama but perhaps, but the Unidac acquisition is a really big deal around here and it’s taken a lot of good people a lot of hard work to get a handle on it.”

He looks confused for all of five seconds before his expression smooths back to businessman. “It’s for a friend.”

“Right.” Except for the fact that he’s been on an island for the last five years and how many friends can he have? The look she levels him with must ask a similar questions because he has the decency to look down at his feet rather then talk to her. “Look, I won’t say anything just please don’t be doing anything stupid.”

“I’m not. It’s complicated.”

“Okay.” She doesn’t have the energy to debate the point with him, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach, the unease she’d felt constantly for as long as she could remember, close to disappears when Oliver Queen is around. She doesn’t know what that means for her, or for him, but it does mean something. 

“Okay.” The smile he gives her melts her heart just a little.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy Merlyn is many things to many people, but whatever he is to Evelyn Smoak, well, he'd like it to stay like this forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the love guys! It means the absolute world as a new Olicity writer!
> 
> This was totally not how I had planned to introduce Felicity's kid, but she's super persistent and it kind of seemed fitting.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

Tommy Merlyn is many things to many people. Charmer, partier, player, multi billionaire. The list is rather long for someone his age and he kind of guesses that that’s the point. He clings onto all those things once he learns that the Queen’s Gambit went down in a storm. Because if there’s one thing that he’s not anymore, it’s a best friend.   
The thought alone hurts more then he’d care to admit, or show to anyone. He’s not sure he even has friends anymore, if he’s being honest with himself now that Oliver is dead and took Sara along with him. 

That’s why when he sees a tiny blonde haired girl waiting in line for a coffee, he recognises her from one of the many parties he’d seen Sara at. From what Laurel had told him when she was still talking to him, Sara had never had many close friends and the blonde had been her closest one. A name doesn’t immediately spring to mind as he approaches her, but he likes to think he’s smooth enough that maybe he doesn’t need it.

“I’ll have whatever she’s having, on me,” he calls out to the server, chuckling as the blonde startles then spins round to face him. It takes all of two seconds to notice her pregnant belly and the pink tinge to her cheeks. He holds out a hand. “Tommy Merlyn.”

She takes it slowly. “I’m pregnant.” The red tinge gets deeper. “Name, right, Felicity Smoak.”

“How far along are you?” It seems like foot in mouth disease is mutual. 

“Almost to term. Only two more weeks to go. Hopefully.” She makes a praying sign with her hands before placing them back on her stomach. “Not to be rude, but, why are you talking to me?”

He decides then and there that he likes her, and he can see why she and Sara had been so close. “My best friend is Oliver Queen.”

“I know. It’s kind of everywhere.” 

“And I know that you were friends with Sara Lance.” He suddenly feels embarrassed, like this was potentially the worst mistake of his life. “Look, it’s stupid, but no one else- “

“No one else knows what it’s like to lose a best friend?” She finishes for him, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Tommy Merlyn, do you want to join me for coffee?”

 

He gets her call in the middle of the night exactly three days after meeting her. She’s in tears and probably pain and he’s out his door and in his car breaking every speeding law imaginable to get to her side in time. She’s lying on her side, hands wrapped around her belly, tears streaming down her face and his heart breaks for her. Her mom wasn’t due for another three days so he’s all she’s got at the moment.

He can’t help that his heart swells up just a little at the thought of it. In the three days of knowing Felicity Smoak, he’d fallen under her spell. She was charming in a nerdy way, but she didn’t care that he was a multi billionaire playboy. They’d spent hours talking the first day at the coffee shop, and every day since, Tommy had found himself at her apartment arms laden with food from his father’s chefs. 

“Hey, Flick, it’s just me,” he crouches down beside her and helps her sit up. “Are you doing okay?”

“A basketball wants to come out of my vagina Tommy, of course I’m not okay!” she winces. He’s seen this in the movies that Thea had made him watch when he and Ollie had been growing up. “Help me up, will you?”

He puts an arm under her elbow and one around her waist, pulling her up to her feet. She wobbles for a few seconds then finds her sea legs. 

“My bag is by the door, it’s all packed and everything, and there’s a baby seat in my nursery, well, study, with a change table and crib in it, but I guess that still counts, right?” He’s moving around the small apartment, grabbing the baby seat out of the study, because it certainly was not a nursery and then her bag from the door. Felicity in the meantime, has put on her jacket and is standing by the door, phone and tablet in hand. 

He can’t help but laugh that his newest and probably closest friend can’t spend five minutes away from her tech. He finds it a rather endearing quality and he makes a note to ask her for help in setting up his newest sound system when. Then he shakes his head to get rid of the thought because the woman in question is about to give birth to a human and that’s gonna take some time and then there’s going to be the whole deal of raising it and yeah, sound system can certainly wait. 

“Are you ready for this?” he asks her quietly as she locks her door. 

He notices that now that she’s upright and walking again and seems fine. He doesn’t dare say anything, however, or risk getting punched. 

She meets his eyes and he can see the fear in them and he thinks that it probably mirrors his own.

“I don’t really have a say in the matter, do I? Like, this kid is going to pop out regardless of what I want.”

Yup, totally not ready.

 

It takes twenty-seven hours, 12 cups of ice chips, three shots of tequila and a broken hand but Evelyn Sara Smoak comes into the world screaming, much to the delight of both Tommy and Felicity. 

He hadn’t originally been planning on being there for the entire birth, but the closer the contractions got the more scared Felicity became and Tommy, well, when he looked into her eyes he couldn’t force himself to leave if he tried. He’ll deny it if it ever comes out, but the moment the doctors held up the tiny baby, he’d been smitten. They’d laid her on   
Felicity’s chest the moment the doctors declared the baby to be in perfect health. 

“Why Evelyn?” It comes out as a whisper, not wanting to waste the sleeping baby between them. Felicity had just woken up, having just slept for the better part of eight hours.

“I liked the name.”

“And Sara?”

“She was my best friend. She was going to be godmother.”

He hesitates before asking the next question. “The father?”

She laughs softly, her cheeks regaining a little bit more of their colour as she blushes. “I don’t remember actually. I was drunk, I think the guy was drunk, never got a name or a number. I blame Sara really.”

He laughs as well. “Do you want him involved in her life?”

“Tommy, I had drunken sex up against a wall on the outside of a club. I don’t think the guy in question would want to be involved with her.” She runs a finger along her daughters’ cheek, then over her puckered lips. Tommy doesn’t think he’s seen a more beautiful scene in his life. 

“His loss.”

 

“Come on Princess, smile for me!”

He shouldn’t be surprised at her stubbornness, really. They’d been on the brink of meltdown for weeks, ever since Felicity had taken away her tablet and banned Big Belly Burger from their diet. Not that he was planning to say anything, but Felicity is similarly on tenterhooks in terms of her moodiness. 

“I wanna go home!”

“Eve, your mom is sick. If you go home now, you’ll get sick. And if you get sick, then we’re all in trouble because there is no way I’m dealing with two sick Smoak ladies. Been there done the chicken pox thing with you both and I am not making it a priority to do that again.” 

He’s not exaggerating. Evie had been three when an outbreak of chicken pox had knocked out the entire kindergarten. Felicity had never had the chicken pox either so she’d caught it and with the only adult down for the count, Tommy had stepped up become head of the house for a week. Between the death threats from Felicity when he’d taken away her tablet because she needed to rest, and the sleep deprived, fever induced Evelyn, Tommy had had his work cut out for him.

“I don’t care I don’t wanna go to some stupid baseball game! Baseball is stupid! I don’t even like it-”

“Tommy?” His best friend’s voice cuts off whatever Evelyn had been about to say and Tommy has never been more grateful in his life. 

“Oliver, hey buddy!” He stands up quickly reaching out to clap him on his back. “What brings you to the bay?”

“I just came from lunch with Walter, what about you?” Oliver’s eyes flit over to Evelyn who, upon realising that no one was paying her attention anymore had folded her arms across her chest and was glaring at them both.

Tommy sighs. “I’m keeping the munchkin distracted while her mom is sick. We’re meant to be going to the baseball game today-”

“I don’t like baseball!”

“But she doesn’t like baseball.”

“I’m going on a hunger strike!”

“I just ordered you tacos.”

“I don’t care!”

“Evelyn,” Tommy all but growls out. “You will eat your food or so god help me I’ll take away your tablet and your reading books.” He turns his attention back to Oliver. “Apparently the brat doesn’t like baseball anymore so I guess it’s just an early bedtime for her tonight.”

“I’m not a brat.”

“Then don’t act like one.” He retorts, resisting every immature urge he has to stick his tongue out at her when her frown slips to a pout then settles on something in between.

“Sounds like fun,” Oliver comments, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips, seemingly amused by his best friends antics. It’s got to be a first for Tommy since Oliver had come back from the island.

“You’d think so.” He pauses. “Did you want to join us? If you’re not busy that is.”

Oliver glances over at Evelyn again. “Are you sure that’s okay? I don’t want to intrude.”

“It’s fine, you can’t make her any worse.” It’s true. Has been ever since the terrible two's.

Oliver takes a seat next to Tommy and across from Evelyn, who is still glaring at the two of them while she plays with her drink.

“You know, I still remember my first baseball game,” Oliver says conversationally. “We were what, five? Six? Dad took us down to the pitcher’s mound before the game and we got to throw a ball with the rockets. And the food!”

Tommy laughs, remember the day well. “Fairy floss, corn dogs, burgers, fries. I’m fairly sure that both our mothers had a heart attack from it.”

They both risked a glance over at Evelyn to see if she’d gained any interest in their conversation. Her glare had disappeared but there was still a standoffishness in the way she held herself. 

“Evie come on, we can have fun!”

“I want mom.”

“Mom is sick.”

“Then she shouldn’t be at home by herself.”

Damn, she’s good. And right. But that's totally not the point of them spending the day together.

“How about we strike up a deal. You eat lunch, we spend a bit of time out doing fun kid stuff and then we can go home to your mom,” Tommy bargains. He realises the ridiculousness of this entire situation. But it seems to work as Evie considers her options.

“Okay.” She glances back at Oliver, her glare replaced with an open curiosity. “Who’s he?”

“Oliver Queen,” Oliver introduces, holding out a hand. Evelyn takes it, albeit slightly cautiously while glancing over at Tommy to check this was okay.

“Evelyn Smoak.”

Tommy notices the surprise that crosses Oliver’s face for a few seconds before he schools his expression into one of neutrality. 

“Any relation to Felicity Smoak?”

Evelyn’s eyes light up. “Yeah! She’s my mom! How do you know her?”

“I work with her,” Oliver explains simply. 

“My mom is the best, don’t you think?” He almost gets whiplash from Evelyn's mood swing from brat to cutest kid on Earth.

“She certainly is,” Oliver agrees with a nod of his head. The smile is back, this time with a little more life. In hindsight, Tommy shouldn’t be surprised that Evelyn could and would win over even the hardest of hard people, Oliver Queen. He also shouldn't be surprised that Felicity Smoak herself could bring a smile out of Oliver Queen. 

 

They end up going to the baseball game, Oliver included and Tommy, well he’s sure that Evelyn enjoyed herself and that’s really all that matters to him. By the time they get back to Felicity’s house, it’s almost midnight and Evelyn is passed out in the back seat of the car. 

“You can ask me about everything as soon as I get Evs back inside.” Tommy kills the engine and climbs out of the car, opening the back up to pick up Evelyn. He makes it halfway up the steps before the door opens and a half dressed, mostly asleep Felicity glares at him.

“What happened to, ‘I’ll have her home early’ did we get mixed up?” She grumbles.

“Hey, she’s your kid. Not my fault she’s moody when you’re sick.”

Felicity makes a face before standing aside to let Tommy in. “Thanks for today though, even if she was awful to deal with.”

Tommy chuckles lightly. “She was an angel after Oliver charmed her, and I think she charmed him back.”

“Oliver?”

“Yeah, we ran into him when we were down at the bay, he joined us for the baseball game. He started telling stories of how much fun we had when we were kids and stuff and it   
really brought Evie around.” Felicity smiles softly, placing a hand on her daughters back. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” she admits, “it was nice to have some quiet time, catch up on some readings and all that.”

“Good, I’m glad Flick.” 

They walk the rest of the way to Evelyn’s room in silence, then tag team getting her ready for bed. It’s become something of a routine between them whenever they go out somewhere with Evelyn and end up coming back late. He won’t admit it to anyone but himself, but he kind of loves these moments between the three of them. To him, these moments solidify how much of a family they’ve become over the past five years and it settles something within him, the part of himself that used to yearn for his fathers approval. 

Once Evelyn is tucked in bed Felicity walks him out. 

“Please don’t get in any trouble,” she tells him, glancing between Oliver in the car and Tommy at her doorstep. 

“I’m insulted!”

“You should be!”

They say their goodbyes and Tommy heads back to his car. When he climbs in Oliver looks at him expectantly. 

“She’s Sara’s best friend.” It’s a funny way to start the story of their friendship, but that had truly been how it had all started between them. “She was eight months pregnant or so the first time I met her. I recognised her from a party Sara had been at, and Laurel had mentioned that Sara didn’t have too many friends. I went up and said hi and the rest as they say, is history.”

“So where does the kid fit in, you two seem fairly close.”

“Felicity didn’t know anyone but me when she went into labour, and her mom couldn’t make it in time. So I sat with her while she was in labour.” Oliver’s eyes widen considerably. 

“Look, we might have been partiers and playboys and all of that, but the moment I saw that kid, she changed something for me. I helped set up her nursery, I took her to her first ballet lessons, soccer practises. She’s amazing, and so is her mom.”

Oliver considers the information for a few minutes as they drive. “I’m happy for you. I’m glad for you.”

Tommy smiles gratefully at him. “The last five years has changed both of us, I know I’ve been made better by having them in my life.”

“What about the father?”

Tommy shrugs. “Felicity doesn’t really like to talk about it.”

“Are you Felicity?”

“That’s not the point Oliver,” he grumbles. “I only know that she got drunk one night and slept with some guy. She doesn’t remember a name or a face so she’s never made it a point to find out.”

He doesn’t mention that she could probably find out is she really wanted too, all things considered. Better to let Oliver and the rest of Queen Consolidated figure it out on their own terms.

“She doesn’t seem the type,” Oliver muses mostly to himself.

“Sara was a bad influence apparently.” 

Oliver chuckles to himself, then quickly changes the subject to his club. 

Tommy can’t help but feel grateful for it. His and Felicity’s little, dysfunctional family unit, well he wanted it to stay between them for as long as possible.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Tommy get in trouble. No surprises. Felicity is not happy. Not surprising. Evelyn wants hot milk and brownies. Also not surprising.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had a few comments about Evelyn's father and who he might be. I'm not in any particular rush to reveal that little piece of information, however it is a big part of the later part of this story. It will definitely not be who you're all expecting. But, it's complicated.
> 
> This will mostly follow canon fairly strictly however the addition of a young child plus Tommy and Felicity's friendship does change a lot. In the next few chapters we'll start to delve deeper into Team Arrow's operations as Felicity and Tommy delve deeper into it.

Evelyn is completely enamoured with Oliver Queen she learns the next morning. It’s all she can talk about over breakfast and the ride around the bay they go on and the shopping trip to do the groceries and over dinner and it’s driving Felicity Smoak crazy. She has nothing against the man who happens to be not only her boss but her best friend’s best friend but seriously, twelve hours of non-stop Oliver talk is enough to drive those closest to him crazy. 

Tommy comes around just before bedtime, as is Sunday night traditions at the Smoak residence. 

“How was she today?” They’re sitting on Evie’s bed, waiting for her to finish brushing her teeth. 

“Completely in love with Oliver,” she deadpans. 

Tommy half chokes on his (de-caf) coffee. “What do you mean?”

“Well, literally the only nice things I’ve heard come out of her mouth today are about Oliver Queen and how nice he is, and Oliver Queen and how funny he is, is Oliver even funny?   
He seems so,” she pauses, thinking, “grrrr all the time you know? And then it was Oliver bought me fairy floss when Tommy said no because otherwise you’ll kill him and oh my god if I hear the words Oliver Queen come out of her mouth one more time, I will literally drop her off at the Queen Mansion and they can take her.”

When she catches her breath from her tirade, Tommy is on his side laughing hysterically, with tears streaming down his face. She’s chalking it up to over tiredness because while she wasn’t wrong, she wasn’t that funny. And then she’s laughing because it’s just one of those things that happens. They’re both crying by the time Evelyn finishes with her teeth.

“What’s so funny?” Evie asks eyeing her mother and Tommy.

Felicity shakes her head. “Nothing sweetheart, Tommy and I were just telling each other jokes is all.”

“But you’re jokes aren’t funny. And neither is Tommy.”

“We find each other funny Evs,” Tommy defends. “You should be lucky enough to find yourself some friends like me and your mom. Never a boring day in your life.”

Evelyn shakes her head before hopping into bed between them. “Can we read Harry Potter tonight?”

****

With Evelyn finally asleep Tommy and Felicity make their way back to the lounge room. They spend most of their nights like this, watching whichever TV show they can decide on with as little arguments as possible. Of course, some nights he spends with Laurel and some nights her friends from Central City stay over and Tommy can put up with a lot, but Nerd Night in the Smoak house is something that is just off limits for him. 

“We never did get to talking about how your little night on the town with Oliver went,” Felicity passes him the pan of brownies her and Evelyn had made for dinner. “I’m assuming from the lack of, well, anything that it probably didn’t go as well as you wanted.”

Tommy shrugs half-heartedly. “Thea told him about Laurel and I.” 

“Oh wow.”

“You’re telling me.”

“How did he take it?”

“He already knew.” Tommy’s head falls into his hands. “I didn’t want it to be like this Flick. If he came back, I wanted him to be himself not this weird half version of himself.” He pauses, decides he needs something stronger then de-caf and rummages around in Felicity’s kitchen for the bottle of whiskey he keeps for Oliver related emergencies. 

“He’s spent five years on an island Tommy, that’s going to change you. You’ve changed. In a mostly committed relationship, an awesome god-father to a rather precocious five-year-old, and have been the biggest support an single mom could ask for.”

“But I liked who he was before the island.”

Felicity can’t help but laugh. “Then I suggest you start trying to find a way to like the person he is now.” She shoves him a little as they settle under the blanket and it takes a few seconds after the fact that Felicity realises that Tommy winces a little as she does so. “What happened?”

“What do you mean?” Tommy’s voice breaks a little as he asks. 

“Thomas Merlyn why are your knuckles bloody and bruised?”

“It’s kind of a long story.”

“Get talking then.” 

****

“We need booze and a TV marathon,” is Tommy’s way of greeting her when she opens her door to find two billionaires on her door step. 

“Hello Felicity, how are you Felicity? Is your daughter asleep yet Felicity? I promise I’ll replenish your booze cupboard Felicity, considering I’m the only person that drinks, Felicity.”   
Both boys look at the ground in slight embarrassment. “Because for the record, I’m really not good, no Evelyn is not asleep, I don’t actually have any booze left after your last attempt at drowning your sorrows and you’d better be paying up!”

“Flick, come on, we’ve both had rough nights,” Tommy starts, inching closer in the door way. “Ollie’s family was almost killed!” There’s an undercurrent of something else she can’t quite pinpoint in his tone, something that she can’t quite describe. 

“I know!” Her voice is getting closer and closer to Loud Voice territory. “It’s because of your near-death experiences that my daughter is currently unable to sleep properly.”

“Can we just control the Loud Voice please, I’m sure that’s not helping.”

“You’re not helping things Tommy!”

“Look Flick, I’m sorry! Let me in and I’ll settle Evie and then we can drink.” 

“Who says I’m drinking?”

“Momma!” All three heads turn in the direction of the approaching five-year-old. “Tommy?”

“Hey Princess, how are-” she can’t help the smile that forms on her face as Tommy gets an arm full of Evelyn. “Hey, don’t cry, I’m all good.” He adjusts Evelyn so that she’s resting on his hip with her arms around his neck and face buried in his shoulder. “How about we get you some warm milk and then maybe all four of us can watch Beauty and the Beast?”  
Felicity can’t help but direct her glare towards her best friend. “That sounds lovely. Oliver?”

“Hot milk sounds wonderful,” he admits with his typical half smile. “It was my favourite thing to drink before bed or when I couldn’t sleep.”

 

That’s the story of how she ends up squished between two billionaires with a Evelyn sprawled out across all three laps. 

“Well played, Merlyn.” She comments, her loud whisper voice just as scary as her normal loud voice. 

Tommy laughs, unfazed. “Thanks Flick. Can always win an argument by dragging in the kid.” 

“I don’t think you did much of the dragging Tommy,” Oliver chuckles. “I’m fairly sure you get dragged in the moment she started crying.”

“Don’t even bother telling him that,” Felicity tells him. “He’s been in denial for years. Likes to think that he isn’t wrapped around her little finger.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tommy says haughtily. “I didn’t want to upset her more so obviously I made her hot milk-”

“And you obviously just went along with playing dress ups to make Evs feel better, is that right?” Felicity checks, trying to get an elbow out to jab him with it.

“Yup, that’s the reason.”

Both Oliver and Felicity turn to study Tommy closer. He’s wearing a crown and the latest palette of kids’ makeup Laurel had bought Evelyn. “Blue eye shadow looks good on you.”

“I think green would suit him better,” Oliver chimes in.

“I’m thinking purple, like a purple orange combo to really bring out his eyes,” Felicity continues.

Tommy rolls his eyes as his two best friends banter back and forth. “I listen to Evie about fashion advice, and Evie only.”

****

Felicity Smoak doesn’t talk to Thomas Merlyn for three days following Oliver Queen’s arrest for being The Hood. Not even when he calls her asking for her help. Not when he comes around bearing food and fancy wine. Not when Evelyn sits between them and chatters away about how awesome the vigilante is.

“He’s not actually the Vigilante Felicity!” Tommy corrects a few hours later. “Lance just has something against him!”

The eye roll comes before she can stop it. “Of course Quinten has something against him! He screwed over both of his daughters and one of them is dead because of it! Sara is dead because of it. Because of him.”

“Sara made her own decisions.”

“Sara is dead. Because she got on a boat with Oliver Queen.” She honestly can’t help the bitterness that enters her voice as she talks about her very first friend. It’s not something that she and Tommy talk a lot about, especially since Oliver’s return from the dead.

This argument has been brewing for weeks. Ever since Oliver came back a part of her has been waiting for the shoe to drop. For him to turn away from her because Oliver is back.   
She and Tommy don’t do big emotional moments all that often anymore. The did after Evelyn was born and her hormones were all over the place as she tried to adjust to this new life minus a best friend and add an infant. 

“Sara made her own decisions. Ollie didn’t force her on that boat anymore then his father forced him on it. What happened was an accident,” Tommy reiterates with a weary sigh.   
“Look, I get it, if the roles were reversed then I’d-”

“You’d what Tommy? Of course I want Sara back but I wouldn’t trade her life for Oliver’s.” She throws her cup into the soapy dish water in the sink as she gets ready to do the dishes from the takeout feast they’d had earlier. “And for the record I hate the fact that you would ever imply something like that!”

Tommy grabs a dish rag from the oven. Even in the midst of fighting she knows he won’t let her do all the work around the house. “Look Flick, I know this all looks bad and Oliver probably isn’t on your list of people to be looking up to right now but you were the one that told me that I had to find a way to get to know and appreciate this new Ollie.”

“I didn’t think that meant being friends with the Vigilante!” She exclaims, somewhat incredulously.

Tommy groans. “He’s not the Vigilante Felicity! He’s Oliver goddamn Queen.” 

“I don’t care. I don’t want him around Evelyn if he ever gets out of prison.” Tommy scoffs but she continues. “And I don’t want you around him either. You and Laurel are finally in a sort of good place and you don’t need to be brought back down by him.”

“What type of friend would I be if I didn’t try with him?”

“An alive one. You’ve been kidnapped, you’ve been shot at you got beaten up at a club! All in the space of a few weeks all since Oliver Queen got back from the island. I don’t want you to end up dead.”

Tommy sighs, putting down his cloth and coming up behind Felicity. “I can take care of myself.” It’s her turn to scoff. “But you’ve gotta trust me.”

She turns and wraps her arms around his waist. “I know, and I do, but I just think that you don’t want to get to involved with whatever Oliver has going on Vigilante or not.” 

She feels a kiss brush against the top of her head. “Then would now be a bad time to tell you that I agreed to partner with Oliver with the club?”

*****

School pickup is probably the worst part of any day, Felicity decides as she waits at the entrance to Evelyn’s school. She’s got exactly three minutes until the bell rings and two hundred screaming children exit the various doors and run too their parents. Her daughter included. Although she doesn’t scream as much these days, preferring to run along with her friends and spend a little bit of extra time together. 

While she waits, her mind can’t help but slip too Oliver Queen. She’d heard a fair few stories from Tommy about the trouble they’d gotten into before he’d gone missing. The girls they’d slept with, where they’d partied, the colleges they’d both dropped out of. 

That Oliver seemed completely different to the Oliver that has her daughter smitten and is in her office every few days with tech questions ranging from computers to phones to the best printers. She doesn’t think she’d be able to reconcile the two of them these days. She doesn’t know that she wants to if she’d being perfectly honest. She likes this Oliver the same way that she likes Tommy. Both reformed playboys with rich upbringings who have deviated from their set path. She respects that, adores that about Tommy, how even though his father hated the idea of Tommy spending so much time with her and Evelyn, he never once listened, if anything the resolve made him more committed to their tight little family.

“Momma! Can we get hot chocolate?” Her thoughts are ripped away from her as her daughter comes running down the steps. Evelyn’s blonde hair has fallen out of its ponytail in the intervening hours between nine and three, and her backpack is decidedly not on her back, rather hanging around both elbows and whacking the back of her knees as she runs. 

“Sure thing sweets,” she replies, taking the backpack from her daughter and guiding them both away from the typical judgey soccer moms. “How was school?”

Evelyn shrugs one shoulder as her head swivels from side to side, watching the world around her. “It was boring. I’d already read the books that we read in class and I know maths already so I don’t see why I have to do it again. Can I have marshmallows?”

“Sure, babe.”

“And then we had to do sports and stuff this afternoon! I don’t like sports.”

“Evelyn you play soccer three times a week.” She’s not sure why she needs to remind her daughter of this considering her daughter loves soccer.

“Soccer is different to sport mom, obviously,” Evelyn spins round to walk backwards, facing her mother and Felicity can’t help but think that this is going to end badly. “Sport is   
bad, sport is like, the sports that I don’t like. And the boys make fun of me because I’m super better than them!”

“Evie, you don’t have to listen to the boys, be better then them, teach them that girls can do anything!” She says it with more conviction the she really feels because she can totally relate to Evie’s problem. It’s an age old problem really. But she’d rather not tell Evie that. 

“Can we go see Tommy after hot chocolate?” Evelyn is still walking backwards. It’s grating on Felicity’s very last nerve.

“Not today Evs, you’ve got homework and I’m tired.”

“But momma.”

“But Evelyn.” Evelyn almost falls on her but when she doesn’t see a raised paver. “Can you please walk like a normal human being please sweetheart?”

Evelyn pouts but turns around and tucks herself into Felicity’s side. “Can we see Oliver tonight then?”

If her daughter wasn’t pouting up at her, Felicity would’ve been fifty million more times offended that her daughter didn’t want just a night in with her mom. “Oliver is busy tonight sweets, it’s just gonna be you, me and I’m thinking Italian. How does that sound?”

“After hot chocolate and brownies?”

She wasn’t sure when she’d mentioned brownies in the two seconds that her daughter had allowed her to talk but, thinking about it, she’s fairly sure that’s exactly what she needs.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evelyn and Tommy have a heart to heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long. You know when you want to write something and you know what you want to write and you sit down to write and then the process becomes as painful as pulling teeth? Yeah, that was this chapter. This is basically just a filler until we can get into some super juicy bits and pieces which I'm super excited for. 
> 
> However, you do get super cute Evie and Tommy scenes which is really fun to write. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy and chuck me a comment at the end and let me know what you think.

Evelyn Smoak is clever. Clever then clever in fact, something that she most definitely has her mother to thank for considering her mom is a genius, a fact that Tommy never stops reminding her. 

So when her mom doesn’t call her before bed one night when she’s staying with Tommy, a weird feeling starts at the bottom of her stomach. 

“You worry too much Evs, you know what your mom is like, she’s probably buried in paperwork because of all the time she took off after Christmas,” Tommy tells her as they play catch up on The Bachelor. 

The frown on her face and the icky feeling in her stomach doesn’t let up. “Can I stay up until momma gets home?”

“Evs if you’re still up when your momma gets home we will probably never be able to have unsupervised sleepovers again. And I just don’t know if that’s something I’m willing to risk,” Tommy tucks Evelyn further into his side and pressing a kiss to the top of her head for good measure. 

The frown slips to a pout. “But Tommy!” She whines almost pitifully while trying to fix him with her best puppy dog eyes.

“Evelyn,” he whines back with his own version. 

They enter into a staring contest which is only broken when Tommy’s phone goes off.

“Hey Flick, your munchkin is worried about you,” he greets, nudging Evelyn further off him so he can stand and stretch a little more. “Sure thing I’ll just get her up out of bed for   
you.” Tommy winks at Evelyn even though they both know that Felicity would never buy it.

“Hi momma, where are you? Are you gonna be home soon?” The words come out in a jumble and her mother laughs a little.

“Hey baby, I don’t know what time I’ll be home tonight so don’t wait up. I’m just helping out a friend but I promise I’ll be there when you wake up in the morning. Then we can go out for breakfast tomorrow, just you me and Tommy. How does that sound?” Her mom sounds different than normal, Evelyn decides. 

“Okay momma. Do you have time to tell me a story?”

“I’m sorry babe but I’ve gotta get back to it. Get Tommy to tell you a princess story! He’s good at those, in fact he’s probably better then me.” Evelyn laughs, knowing that her mother is right. “I love you sweet girl.”

“Love you too momma.” The phone cuts out and Evelyn can feel her eyes start to water. “Momma says we’re having breakfast together tomorrow. Do you think we can have breakfast burritos?”

Tommy laughs a throaty laugh. “Probably not kiddo, it’ll be pancakes and fruit salad for all of us.” He pauses as he takes in the site of a watery eyed Evelyn sitting next to him. “You okay?”

“Everything seems different now,” Evelyn admits. “Momma never misses bedtime or bedtime stories. And I haven’t seen her for two whole days!”

Tommy rolls his eyes. “You saw her this morning when she dropped you off at school, and you saw her this afternoon when she picked you up from school and dropped you off here.”

“Not the point Tommy!” Evelyn grumbles, her voice cracking and the tears starting to flow freely.  
“Evs, life changes, but something that will never change is how much your mom and I love you. Sure we can get caught up with work and sometimes we’ll miss an occasional bedtime but that doesn’t mean we love you any less.” He picks her up and places her on his lap. “What’s really going on Evelyn Sara Smoak?”

Evelyn sniffs, rubbing her hands over her face before wiggling to face Tommy. “The kids at school keep saying that I don’t have a dad because he doesn’t love me. And they said that one day momma’s gonna find someone to marry and have another kid or more then one kid and ship me off to boarding school because she never wanted me anyway and I don’t want that to happen and I’m scared that mom doesn’t want to spend time with me anymore because she doesn’t want me!” Evelyn is sobbing by the time she finishes, her face all puffy and her cheeks tear stained. Tommy’s heart breaks for her for all of two seconds before an overwhelming rage over takes him and he’s seriously considering murdering someone. Then he quickly realises that the people in question would be children and even if Evie is crying, he can’t do that to a kid. 

“Evie-bear, don’t you ever think, not even for a second, that you mom would ever try and replace you in her life. You are literally her entire world, she loves you more then life itself. And when your mom gets married and even if she does have other kids, it won’t matter because she’ll still love you just as much,” he’s not very good at this whole emotional thing. He’s not going to lie. But he’s more then willing to give it a shot if it means no more tears from Evelyn.

Evie sniffles, rubbing her face with the back of her hands before turning her head to look up at him again, her blue eyes shinier then before. “What if momma doesn’t have enough room in her heart for me? What if her husband doesn’t have enough room in his heart to love me?”

“The funny thing about hearts, Evs, is that you can’t just fill them and then it’s done, that’s all the love you have left. No, when you love someone, your heart gets bigger. And it doesn’t stop, your heart just keeps growing and growing until your entire body is filled with love. So your mom will never run out of love for you and she will never ever stop loving you.”

“What about you? Will you ever stop loving me?” Evie asks, her voice soft and teary.

Tommy shakes his head, gathering the little girl into his arms and hugging her tightly. “Of course not Evs, you’re stuck with me forever.”

“I’d like that.” Evie admits.

“Me too kiddo, me too.”

*****

It’s been a long night. And by long she means it’s been a really freaking long day. Having a rambunctious five year old is not conducive for sleep ins any day of the week. Finding your bleeding boss slash the city’s resident vigilante is not also not conducive for a quiet night in. Guilt flashes inside her for a brief moment as she thinks about missing bedtime with Evie, but she knows that Tommy has it covered.

She slips into the apartment just before dawn and finds Tommy sprawled out on the couch, TV still on. She can’t help but laugh at the site. She doesn’t have the heart to wake him up, nor does she really want a lecture about why she’s been out all night, and why her clothes are covered in blood. As she makes her way into her room, she checks in on Evie to see the little girl as sprawled out as Tommy. She knows better then to move her daughter, having received more then her fair share of foots to the face. 

Once she’s showered and changed, she’s immediately grateful for the fact that today is the weekend. And the fact that breakfast burritos exist. And more so that the little café around the corner makes the best breakfast burritos in Starling. 

“Momma?” Evie’s voice breaks her semi morning prayer the breakfast burrito gods. “Morning momma! It Tommy still sleep?”

Felicity nods. “You should go and wake him up.”

“He’ll get mad,” Evie says solemnly. “He hates it when we wake him up.”

She can’t help but laugh. “That’s what makes it all the more fun! Just go sit on him! There’ll be a breakfast burrito in it for you.”

Evie’s eyes go wide. “Tommy said we wouldn’t have burritos. He said we’d have to have pancakes and fruit salad.”

“Well I don’t want pancakes and fruit salad, I want a breakfast burrito.”

“Okay momma! I’ll go and wake him up.” Evie runs off and seconds later she hears Tommy grunting followed by two separate thuds. “That was mean!” Evie complains as Felicity enters the living room. They’re both sprawled out on the floor Tommy tangled in the blanket he’d wrapped around himself and Evie sitting atop him grinning from ear to ear. 

“Why am I being woken up this early exactly?” Tommy grumbles, throwing his head back onto the floor with a thud.

“Breakfast burrito!” Evie declares.

Tommy snorts. “You’re so easily bought.”

Felicity snickers and Evie just gives her a blank look. “I don’t know what that means.”

“And you’ll never find out kiddo because you’re always going to stay this little and this innocent.” Tommy says darkly, making eye contact with Felicity, who nods along with him, though she knows that that would be impossible. “Have fun at work?”

“So much fun. All the fun,” Felicity laughs a little to herself before looking away.

“Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, just tired. All I need is a day out with my favourite people and I’ll be just fine,” she pauses as Tommy and Evie try and separate them. “We should get going soon though I’m starving.”

“Breakfast!” Evie yells, hopping straight up and rushing off to her room to no doubt throw together the least coordinating outfit she can.

“You sure you’re alright?” Tommy asks as he stands, moving to place a hand on her arm. 

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

“You’d tell me if something was wrong yeah?”

“Of course! I’m just overworked, I promise.” She offers Tommy a rather fake smile in the hopes that she convinces him though she isn’t so sure it’ll work. She’d already made up her mind that she would not be getting Tommy involved in this new type of crazy, if only for his and Evie’s protection.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Tommy have a fight or two, Oliver and Felicity have a serious conversation and Evie spends most of her time sleeping because this chapter takes place in the middle of the night when little five year olds should be sleeping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Thanks for all your wonderful comments, they make my little heart flutter every time. Please don't be offended by my not replying to them, I would love to but I'm a spoiler queen and would say something to give it away. Please know that I love each and every one of you muchly.
> 
> As a brief clarification this is an Olicity story however such a huge part of Evelyn's life is Tommy and the influences he's had on her and Felicity and I really wanted to delve into that early on because it sets the stage for the conflict that is about to start between the three which is mostly alluded to in this chapter if not fairly clear. 
> 
> As for Sara, well, other then a few backstory pieces she won't be featured as yet. There will be a discussion in an upcoming chapter about it however at this stage, well, some things are better left alone.

“At least I didn’t die.” His voice enters her mind before she can stop it. “Again.” The blasé way he says it now makes her want to slap his wounded shoulder. “Cool.” She’d been sure in that moment, had he been able to move his shoulders he would have literally shrugged off the shooting.

Given the scares that she’d seen all over his body however, she had assumed this was just a run of the mil day for Oliver Queen the Vigilante of Starling City. It’s been two weeks since the incident and she’s spent a good half of that replaying the night in her head and the other half helping Oliver with his computers. She hasn’t pulled an all-nighter since, making it fairly clear that she does not have the budget room to hire a babysitter every night they need her assistance and that she wants to keep a lot of distance between her family and this new side of her life.

Not that this is super new to her, she realises given the way she’d spent her college experiences prior to meeting Sara. Her own personal views aside, she has no right bringing her lovely adorable daughter into. It was simply too dangerous.

Which mean that she needed to keep Oliver and Evelyn separated at all costs.

A plan which quickly becomes futile the moment that Tommy suggests having a movie night at his place, complete with kid friendly movie, popcorn and every single food she does not like Evie eating because it turns her into an untameable monster. She can’t say no because Tommy, the bright spark that he, is asked her in front of Evie and her eyes had lit up like it was Christmas, and she can’t ban him from coming because she does not want to be a third wheel to Tommy and Laurel’s, whatever it was.

“You off in la la land?” Tommy asks her as he enters the kitchen.

“Just thinking,” she replies. He doesn’t need to know what she’s thinking about.

“Same thing in my book,” he pauses, “are you okay with Oliver being here? I mean I know you said you didn’t really want him around Evie because of the whole Vigilante drama but he’s mine and Laurel’s friend and he does mean a lot to us,” he pauses again as she raises her eyebrows, “not that I would ever put them above you or Evie but you all just mean a lot to me and I want us to be able to spend time together.”

“It’s fine, Tommy, I’ve been talking to Oliver a fair bit this last week or so because he wants me to help set up the IT side of the club. He’s paying me of course, but he just trusts me or something. Not that he even knows me past that one night of drinking and the whole two times he’s met Evie, but she must talk as much as I do because he seems to know an awful lot about me, unless it’s you telling him all that stuff about me, but you don’t have the penchant for word vomit that Evie and I do. It must be hereditary or something, I wonder if you can test for it because if so, I may actually never have anymore children because this affliction is not something I’d wish on anyone.” Tommy’s mouth is hanging open slightly and she realises just a few seconds to late that she’s rambled for quite a while. “And we’re going to reset in three, two one. Like I said, it’s fine.”

“Okay. Cool. Good to know,” Tommy still looks a little stunned by it all, his eyes glazed over just a little. “It’s cool that you’re helping Oliver out with the club, although I feel like as general manager I probably should have been consulted.”

Felicity pouts at him jokingly. “Awww, is your ego a little hurt?”

“Hardy haha, no, I’m just saying I feel like I should have been consulted,” Tommy retorts, rolling his eyes then narrowing them accusingly. “Why are you only just telling me this now?”

“When have we had time?” Since the incident, they’d barely seen each other since their breakfast together. With Tommy getting involved with Laurel and Felicity getting involved with Team Arrow, they had basically been ships in the night the last two weeks. Their closest interactions had been the occasional phone call when clarifying pick up times for Evie’s various before and after school activities. “We’ve both been caught up with our lives at the moment and I don’t know, I guess things just slip through the cracks.”

“Slip through the cracks?” Tommy asks incredulously. “Felicity we are basically raising a kid together, I know you don’t want to admit that that’s what we’ve been doing since she was born but Evie is basically my kid and you are my closest friend and you’re telling me that information like where you’re spending your nights isn’t important to me anymore?”

“It’s not that big of a deal, it’s just some computers and camera installations. And firewalls. Nothing different to what I do at my normal job. Besides, I thought you’d like it, me and Oliver getting along,” she’s not sure where the sudden frustration comes from but she’s still sleep deprived from her all nighter and she just doesn’t want to talk about this.

“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid we both know what type of set up that place needs. And where have you been the nights I’ve had Evie? At the club with Oliver? Because you haven’t told me, which I guess is just what happens when your friendship slips through the cracks,” an equal amount of frustration is creeping into Tommy’s voice as well.

“I didn’t tell you because you didn’t need to know,” Felicity replies stubbornly. “And it still isn’t.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“So are you.”

They stand in silence, glowering at each other as they try and collect their thoughts and control their tongues before they say something they will no doubt regret.

“Look, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about the work at the club, it’s just happened suddenly and we have both been really busy,” Felicity puts her cup of coffee down on the bench before stepping closer to Tommy. “I don’t want us to fight and I know you don’t want that either. So, let’s just put this all behind us and go and watch the stupid movie with that little girl we both clearly adore and pretend that we didn’t just yell at each other over literally nothing. Okay?”

Tommy sighs wearily, rubbing his face with his hands. “Yeah, okay, just let me grab the chips and I’ll be right in.”

****

He finds her half asleep in the lair later that night, after having decided that Evie was in perfectly safe hands at Laurel’s house for the night. She’s sitting upright in her chair, but her head is titled to one side resting on her hand and a red pen spinning around on the fingers of her other hand.

“Hey, you should head home for the night,” he calls out to her as he strips off so he can train before he heads back home as well.

Her entire body jolts slightly as she turns in her chair to face him, her mouth falling slightly when she notices his shirtless-ness. “In a, uh, in a minute give or take some minutes. I’m just finishing off this algorithm that will notify me at home when I get an alert on the thing that I’m looking into, you know, just chasing leads and stuff,” she coughs, as if to clear the word babble from her mouth. “What about you? Shouldn’t you be heading home as well?”

He nods his head over to the salmon ladder with a small smile. “I haven’t been able to train much the last few days,” he says by way of an explanation.

“Right, then I guess I won’t leave until you do,” she tells him decisively. When he frowns down at her she merely turns back to her computer, all signs of sleepiness gone and begins to tap away at her keyboard, effectively ending their discussion.

They work in silence, him on his usual routine and her at the computer for another hour before the fatigue starts to set in.

“I think I’m done,” he volunteers after he’s worked up the courage to distract her attention from the computers.

“Perfect timing, because I think I’m done as well,” she spins around to face him a bright smile covering most of her weary face. “I won’t explain it tonight because my brain is fried but some other time when it’s actually yielding results.”

“I’d like that,” he tells her, sincerity flowing through his voice, bringing a brighter smile to her face. “I’ll walk you out.”

She nods her head in thanks. “Just let me grab my stuff.”

They’re almost to their cars when he speaks again.

“I heard you talking to Tommy tonight,” he tells her when they reach her car. “I’m sorry you have to lie to him about all of this.”

She shakes her head at him, a sardonic smile gracing her face for just a few moments. “I don’t want him or Evie involved in any of this, it is far too dangerous, especially considering we know that whoever is behind this list is clearly not afraid to target families. If that means we’ve gotta have a little fight to keep it that way, that’s what I’ll have to do.”

“You shouldn’t have been put in that position, Felicity and I’m sorry about that,” he regrets getting into her car that night, having never wanted to involve  her in his night job, especially considering her relationship with Tommy and the fact that she has a young daughter. “But I appreciate all the help, even if I don’t act like it sometimes.”

“Just sometimes?” she asks him with a chuckle. “You still owe me that very nice red wine you said you were planning on winning.”

He rolls his eyes good naturedly. “I’ll bring it to you tomorrow,” he promises.

“I’ll hold you too that, Oliver Queen,” she tells him as she unlocks her car and climbs in. “I’ll see you tomorrow night I guess.”

“Have a goodnight.”

“Morning,” she corrects. “But I will. You too.”

“I will,” he replies, closing her door for. Her engine starts and before he knows it she’s half way out the parking lot, leaving him to think.

He knows that they need to talk about Sara. It’s something that’s been in the back of his mind since the moment the pieces fell together to reveal the fact that Sara’s very best friend was now his best friends best friend. It was becoming a complicated mess, he realises a little too late.

Then there’s Evie, who, in three meetings had managed to worm her way into his heart almost as quickly as her mother had made him smile that first day. He’d known from the beginning that if he wanted Felicity on the team then he’d have to make allowances for the fact that she could not be expected to send her child off to Tommy’s for babysitting all the nights that she was needed down in the lair. So he was prepared for only having Felicity part time mentally. In practise this was a whole other story. He felt as though he needed her down on coms with Digg whenever he went out on missions. He felt like he needed her when he returned from patrol to find her sitting at her desk tapping away on both her legitimate reason for being at the club and the rather illegal reason she was spending so much time at the club.

****

“You’re doing what now?” Tommy asks incredulously. “Flick, come on, this is getting out of hand. Are you going as his date or something?”

Felicity snorts into her coffee. “No, I’m going as a friend. He’s doing this because I brought the charity to his attention and he said I should come along with him. Besides, he’s sort of dating McKenna Hall at the moment.”

“He sent you a dress!” Tommy exclaims pointing at the box sitting between them on the counter. “Oliver Queen does not just buy people dresses.”

“He didn’t buy me the dress, he said it was one of Thea’s that she’s never worn.”

“Felicity it’s in your size and it looks tailored to fit you, he bought you a god-damn dress,” Tommy picks up the dress and studies it carefully. “Looks a little short if you ask me.”

“Tommy it’s a gala, I have nothing to wear to a gala, I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about this!” She stomps around the kitchen as she cleans up the mess from this afternoons snack, and places the pre cooked meal shed bought in the oven ready for Tommy and Evie. 

“I think momma will look super pretty,” Evie chimes in as she enters the kitchen. She’s got a book in hand and a confused look set on her face. “I need help with my homework.”

The two adults look back towards each other as they contemplate their rather ridiculous argument and decide to leave it for now, preferring not to upset the five year old right before dinner.

***

She’s still shaking when they get back to her place. She’s not cold, no she’d been wrapped in Oliver’s jacket since the moment he got back from dealing with the Dodger. Her nerves are completely fried, she realises. Near death experiences must do that to a non-practised person.

“I’m sorry about tonight,” Oliver says quietly as they walk up to her apartment. “You’re involved to help Walter, we shouldn’t have brought you along.”

“It’s fine, really. I wouldn’t have said yes in the first place if I didn’t realise what I might get caught up in,” the stop outside her front door and she leans her head against it. “I was stupid to try and confront him anyway, so really, you just saved me from my own stupidity.”

“Felicity,” he whispers softly, “You’ve got a daughter to consider.”

“I know. And I have considered it, how can I not have considered it?” She breaths deeply as she pauses for a moment. “But how can I sleep at night knowing that I have the ability to make this city a better place for her, yet I’m not doing anything to fix it?”

This also makes him pause. “You know that I will do everything within my power to ensure that she stays safe, regardless of whether or not you continue to help me.”

“That was the point of all those random tech questions you had wasn’t it? To test me.” Her eyebrows are raised, challenging him to tell her otherwise.

He shrugs a shoulder nonchalantly, an amused glint in his eyes. “I was told you were the best.”

“In your _expert_ opinion, am I the best?”

“Without a doubt,” he admits,  sincerity filling his voice.

“Then I’d better stay,” she almost whispers.

“I’d like that.”

“I wasn’t going to give you much of an option.”

The warm breath of his laughter brushes across her face, making her realise just how close they are currently standing towards each other. His hand comes up to brush her hair away from her face, grazing her shoulder.

“You should go and tuck in Evie, I’m sure that will settle your nerves.”

She clears her throat and shakes her head. “Yeah, you’re right, I should go and relieve Tommy of his babysitting duties as well. Goodnight Oliver,” she whispers as she opens her front door and ducks into the apartment.

“How was the party?” Tommy calls from the living room.

“Uneventful,” she tells him. “How was she tonight?”

“Uneventful. Have a good time?”

“Sure, Oliver is good company when he wants to be.”

Tommy lets out what she believes to be a very sarcastic laugh. “Right. Well, then if you don’t need me for anything else then part time babysitting duties, I’d better head off.”

“Right, well, say hi to Laurel for me,” she replies as she bypasses him and heads straight for her bedroom. He doesn’t reply, leaving only the slamming front door as the indication that he’s left.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter went from a super short one from Tommy's point of view, to a super long chapter from Oliver's point of view and now we have a medium length chapter from Felicity's point of view. I don't even know how that works but oh well.
> 
> I'm super excited to get into the meaty bits of the story so I hope you all enjoy!

She’s never had a problem with Malcom Merlyn, unlike Tommy. She’d only ever seen the professional and somewhat aloof business man who had treated her daughter like a princess for the majority of her life. She likes to think they get along well, with their regular family dinners, his words, not hers, they’d spent a fair bit of time debating everything from technological advances to politics to art and culture. And he had impeccable wine taste to boot.

She reasons that that’s probably why Malcom Merlyn approaches her with the two invitations to the Humanitarian Gala that Starling City was hosting. She has this innate ability to converse on a meaningful level with both Merlyn men, a trait that they both seemingly lack.

Of course, she slips and tells him that they’re all having dinner at Tommy’s apartment the following evening and that he should invite him himself, however that goes down just a treat when Malcom crashes Tommy’s birthday dinner and subsequent birthday.

To be clear, she does not like fighting with her best friend. She hates it with a passion. Tommy has been by her side every step of the long and arduous process that is raising a child. However, she will use her Loud Voice when his head is firmly stuck up his own ass. It’s not something that she can help. She senses it happening and has to step in. Examples of such times are when he refused to take Laurel Lance out on a proper date after sleeping with her, when he refused to let Evie have a playdate with a little boy in her class and now, when he’s refusing to go to the gala his father is being honoured at.

“I’m not going and there isn’t anything you can say or do to change my mind!” Tommy exclaims as they face off in her kitchen for what seems like the millionth time this week. They’ve been nit picking more then usual, especially at the little things, like the fact that he let Evie take leftover burritos to school for lunch, the fact that she’s recently hired a new babysitter because she’s spending so much time at the club with Oliver and oh yeah, she regularly has lunch with his father.

“He’s your father and he’s being honoured for work that your mother started so it’s basically like she’s being honoured also,” she reasons as she slices up the homemade pizza they’d agreed to for the night. “Besides _I’m_ going so you should too. Otherwise I’m going to have to find someone else to take.”

His glare intensifies as he registers that it’s a low level threat that she’ll take Oliver as her date instead of him. “That’s blackmail.”

“It’s not wholly morally unacceptable when you think about it.” She retorts smoothly. “You need this. Don’t go for your father, go for you.”

“You don’t know what’s best for me.”

“Bullshit,” she swears in a whisper, so as not to be heard by the little girl in the next room. “I let a lot of things go Tommy Merlyn, but this will not be one of them. Now get your head out of your ass and get a tux organised because the car will be picking two people up from here at seven tomorrow evening.”

****

She races over to him the moment Malcom is wheeled into the ambulance. His face is completely hollow, a cold shock settling through him. She’d heard everything over the coms. She knew he knew, she just didn’t know how much he knew.

“Tommy?” Her hand reaches out to touch his arm, gently grazing him. “Are you okay?”

He laughs to himself a little. “The Vigilante saved me.” His voice comes out strained.

“He’s saved you before. What makes you think now would be any different.”

“Because-“ Tommy takes a steadying breath. “It’s just different this time Flick.”

“Tommy, don’t push me away, not right now.” She’s seem the signs before but this, the look in his eyes sets her nerves on edge.

He lets out a shuddering breath. “I don’t know what to do Flick.”

“Talk to me,” she implores though in her mind she feels as though she’s begging.

“I don’t know if I can.” He glances over his shoulder and spots the car they’d arrived in pulling up. “Just go home for now and I’ll call you later. Once I know what’s happening with my father.”

She purses her lips at that, knowing full well that Tommy Merlyn left to stew is not good. “Okay. Promise you’ll call, no matter what. I still owe you one Merlyn.”

His laugh has a little more life in it when he waves her off. “I promise.”

She’s halfway home when her phone goes off. She already knows who’s calling her before she even looks at the screen.

“Hey,” she answers softly.

“Hey, I’m following behind you.” His voice is soft and slightly reassuring. But there’s a note of fear in it that she’s only heard once before. “Is it okay if I stop by?”

“Yeah,” she replies. “Of course.”

“Thank you.” His voice is rough now and she wonders just how much pain her hooded Vigilante must be in if he’s letting her in right at this moment.

“You’re welcome.”

****

She shifts in her spot next to him, careful to not spill any of the piping hot tea that Oliver had brewed her while she’d been pottering around the house. They’ve been sitting in silence for the better part of an hour, both watching the screens intently as various news stations report on the events of the night.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” he admit, breaking the silence. “Merlyn was dying and I know what it feels like to loose a parent and I would never want that for Tommy.” Oliver’s head is bowed as he talks, seemingly studying his shoes. “I didn’t want him to know. But he should have been the first person I told.”

She places a hand on his arm in comfort. “I agree that you should have but Oliver, when you came back from the island you were someone completely different, some _thing_ completely different.” She pauses, unsure of how to continue. “Sara was the first person I told when I was pregnant. I told her before I told anyone back home in Vegas or in Boston. Because with Sara around and in my life I changed into someone else as well, a better version of myself. She was so excited when I told her. She said she couldn’t wait to be an aunty and dote on her niece. But that’s totally not the point, the point is that I felt comfortable telling her because she didn’t have any preconceived notions about who I was before.”

Oliver nods his head slightly. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for Oliver, Sara made her own choices.” She’s never once blamed him for Sara’s death not in all the intervening years and especially not when she’d first found out. “Doesn’t mean I don’t miss her, but I don’t blame you.”

“I think the Sara I knew was different from the Sara you knew,” he admits. “She was your friend but to me, she was just-” he stops and she can feel the pain radiating from him. “I didn’t love her. I don’t even think I cared that much about her when we got on the boat.”

“Are you sure you’re not just saying that to let the pain lessen for a little bit?” She asks, a small smile tugging at her lips. “Because sometimes if you tell yourself something over and over again it can be true. But it can’t really but because you’ve buried it under so many lies you can’t even tell anymore.”

“Felicity,” he says with a surprising amount of softness.

“Oliver,” she replies.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

****

He hears the soft pitter patter of little feet long before he feels fully coherent. There’s a weight on his chest and he looks down to find Felicity sprawled out on top of him, a blanket somehow wrapped around them both. Then he looks up and finds a pair of startling blue eyes looking between them both, confusion clear on her sleepy face.

“Oliver?” Evelyn whispers tiredly, rubbing her eyes a little. “Whatcha doing here?”

His brain fails him for a few minutes as he contemplates what to say. “Tea, your mom and I were having tea.”

Evie nods slightly, taking it all in. “That’s my favourite blanket coz it smells like momma.” She tugs at it a little causing Felicity to shift a little in her sleep.

“Why are you awake?” He asks curiously as Evie shuffles from side to side.

“Bad dream,” Evie answers. “Momma got hurt. And she didn’t wake up like in the Lion King.”

He vaguely remembers watching the film with Thea when she was younger. Then he realises that this tiny human had a dream about her mother dying and he’s sombre once more.

“I was just checking to make sure she wasn’t like Muffasa.” Evie pokes Felicity in the side a few times, causing Felicity to flinch away and curl up further under the blankets, resulting in her curling closer into his chest. “She’s not. Can I snuggle with you?” She’s climbing up onto the couch before he can really say no, not that he’d been planning to of course because saying no to Evelyn Smoak was impossible.

He watches in amusement as she lifts the blankets up and crawls along the length of her mothers body before nestling herself firmly between himself and Felicity. The two are snoring softly next to each other within minutes and Oliver honestly doesn’t have it within him to try and wake either of them.  

****

When she wakes up the next morning she instantly feels warm and instinctively snuggles further into the warmth provider. Until she realises that the warm provider is Oliver Queen and Evie is right next to her, also sleeping soundly.

She raises her head slightly, surprised to see that Oliver is awake and playing on her phone.

“What are you doing?” She asks her voice thick with sleep. He smiles fleetingly down at her before turning back to her phone. He looks more well rested then she’s ever seen him be before and she finds that it warms her heart a little more then she’d anticipated.

“We fell asleep on the couch and when Evie came to find you I didn’t want to wake you, and then we all fell asleep.” He catches her gaze at it flits from him to her phone and back again. “Oh, I’m playing Candy Crush. Thea mentioned it, and Evie did as well, so I had to give it a try.”

“I ordered breakfast. Should be here in twenty minutes.” Oliver looks away, almost in embarrassment, however Felicity can’t help but find it rather endearing.

“Oliver, you didn’t have to do any of that,” she tells him attempting to sit up but being weighed down by one of Evie’s legs wrapped around her own.

An almost blush spreads through Oliver’s face. “I wanted too.” He assures her, brushing his hand against her arm.

She can’t help but think of the complete 360 that has happened in the space of twenty four hours. Before the gala they’d just been team mates, fighting to make the city a better place. Now, they’re snuggled, can she even use that word, on the couch with her daughter and it feels right. She’d always slept fitfully since having Evie, usually waking up three or four times in the night just to check on her, make sure she was still alive, still breathing. That had been her biggest fear when Evie had been born, that maybe, in the middle of the night her little girl would just stop breathing. It’s a practise that has made its way through the toddler years of Evie crawling into bed with her and now into the school years where Evie had wanted a little more independence and slept in her own bed nearly every night.

Her thought train brings her back to Oliver, who looks more well rested then she’s probably ever seen him and she can’t help but think that maybe he’d needed them as much as she and needed him last night. The thought sets her teeth on edge. She’d not used to needing people. She needed Evie now that she had her, she couldn’t help that anymore. Her little girl was her entire world. She needed Tommy in so much as they had been best friends for five years and life without him seemed unimaginable but that’s where her little bubble stopped.

The idea that she might _need_ Oliver Queen, billionaire by day vigilante by night made her stomach role. This was crossing the line that she had been carefully constructed since the first time she met him in her little cubicle with his blue eyes and small, but surprisingly telling smile.

She could so easily have more with him. She could so easily want more with him. But Evie, she tells herself, does not deserve to have her life thrown into chaos because her mother wants more with a vigilante. A vigilante that could get himself killed at any moment, who could disappear into the night and never return. She knows more about Oliver then she would like to admit and she knows that deep down the idea of commitment scares him more than anything else. But if she has more with him, he becomes part of Evie’s life. And he cannot be apart of Evie’s life, aside from being Tommy’s best friend. He cannot spend another night over at the apartment only to go off risking his life the following night. She will not see that disappointment in her little girls eyes when he doesn’t come back.

So there’s the catch she decides. Had it been another life, another time, a life where she didn’t have a little girl to take care of, she would have fallen for Oliver Queen and she would have been happy. In this life, however, at this moment, she decides that while she still might fall for him, she will not let herself be with him. If only to keep the life that she’s so carefully built for her little girl weighted equally.

Then, Evie stirs next to her, her little arms reaching up wrapping themselves around both her and Oliver, firmly securing her in place. She must realise that she isn’t in her bed and suddenly she’s bolting upright, nearly tipping Felicity off the couch and Oliver reaching for his nether regions where a foot must have come into contact with a fairly painful spot.

“Momma?” Evie asks softly, reaching for Felicity again.

“Hey hon, have a good sleep?” She asks as she stands up, freeing herself from her Vigilante mess.

Evie nods her head as she does the same, reaching to be picked up. “’M hungry.” She tells Felicity once she’s secured on her mothers hip.

“That’s good, because Oliver ordered breakfast for us.” At the mention of Oliver, Evie squirms round in her arms to send a positively beaming smile towards the billionaire. “You should say thank you.”

“What’s for breakfast?” Evie asks, ignoring her mothers prompt.

“It’s a surprise,” Oliver answers, smiling back.

Evie shrugs a little, happy with the answer. “Can we watch Doctor Who momma?”

 “Sure princess, just don’t skip ahead because otherwise Tommy will get mad.” Her daughter nods her head empathetically. Then she gets a look in her eye and Felicity can’t help but cringe.

“But he skips ahead without you momma. We do it all the time.” Felicity purses her lips together. Of course Tommy Merlyn would skip ahead without her. “But I’ll start it from the beginning so that Oliver can catch up as well.”

Evie wiggles out of her grip, landing on the floor easily, before grabbing the TV remote and turning it on.

“Doctor Who?” Oliver asks as he makes room on the couch for her to sit. “Can’t say I’ve heard of it.”

She shakes her head as she laughs. “You don’t get to use five years on an island as an excuse for this one I’m afraid.”

Oliver frowns. “Why?” He asks a little petulantly if you ask her.

“Because Doctor Who is like really old,” Evie tells him as she joins them on the couch again. “Like older then momma. Wait, are you older then momma? Because if you are then it’s older then you as well.”

Oliver chuckles a little. “I’m older than your mom.” He confirms with a smile.

Evie nods her head. “Cool. Well this show is older then you. It’s older then me!”

“Evs, we get that it’s an old show, but how about you put an episode on.” Felicity instructs as she sees the warning signs of her daughter going off on a tangent.

Evie nods her head once before turning back to the TV. A look of pure concentration crosses her face as the expertly flicks through the shows until she finds the right one. Looking up, Felicity catches Oliver’s gaze as he watches on in amusement.

“It’s a Saturday morning tradition,” she tells him. “Because the episodes air tonight.”

“Does that mean we have another episode of Clara?” Evie asks, her face scrunching in disgust.

“Clara isn’t that bad.”

“But she’s in all of those places and I just don’t understand momma.”

Felicity laughs. “That’s the whole point. You’re not meant to understand.”

“That’s silly.”

“That’s life.”

The staring contest that ensues between the two Smoak ladies is interrupted by a knock at the front door. Her head swings round to Oliver as he stands.

“That’ll be breakfast.”

Had twenty minutes really passed so fast? She reaches for her phone and checks to see if Tommy’s called yet. He hasn’t so she fires off some asking him to please call her ASAP and that she’s expecting him over for Doctor Who tonight.

“Food?” Evie says slowly, as if trying the word out on her lips, as if she’s never heard the concept before. “I haven’t had food in ages.”

“You had pasta for dinner last night,” Felicity tells her.

Evie shakes her head. “Momma that was ages ago!”

She can’t help the laugh that slips between her pursed lips.

When Oliver re-enters the room his arms are loaded with plastic containers and a set of knives and forks, enough for all of them. She can’t tell what’s in them exactly, but she does know that they smell delicious and her appetite has suddenly made itself known.

“So, I didn’t know what you guys liked, so I asked Raisa for a little bit of everything.” He tells them as he sets the food down on the coffee table.

“Everything?” Evie asks in wonder, her eyes going wide.

“Raisa?” She asks, recognising the name froms somewhere and not being able to place it.

“Everything,” Oliver confirms, nodding towards Evie. “And Raisa is my housemaid.”

Her mouth drops for a second. “I thought you said you ordered breakfast. From a shop.”

Oliver shrugs. “Raisa texted to see when I would be home and if I wanted breakfast and I explained the situation and she said she’d send Dig over with the food.”

“Wait, so where’s Dig then?” She blames sleeping on a Vigilante for six hours for the headache that starts developing. Just as the words leaves her lips, her front door open and she can hear the heavy footsteps she’s come to learn as Diggle’s.

“Are we not eating at a table or something?” Diggle asks as he enters the room and notes all the food spread out over the coffee table.

“Who can be bothered moving?” She answers dryly. “We don’t really use the dining table for anything more then homework.”

Evie nods as she kneels next to Oliver as he starts opening the various containers. “Are they blueberry pancakes?” She asks in awe, not taking any notice of the newcomer.

Oliver nods. “Raisa makes the best. There’s also chocolate chip pancakes, I think, and fruit salad and-”

“Bacon!” Evie exclaims as Diggle opens one of the other containers and the smell hits her. “I love bacon but momma says we can’t have it on Saturday’s because we’re Jewish.”

“You can have the eggs though Evs,” Felicity tells her as she starts plating up her own food. All the adults laugh as Evie crunches up her face in mild disgust. “Eggs are good for you.”

“You can’t have eggs without bacon, that’s what Tommy always says,” Evie tells them all defiantly. “Is that a muffin?”

“Mini muffins, actually, banana and blueberry, raspberry and white chocolate and blueberry and oatmeal,” Oliver lists off all the flavours as he opens up each of the containers.

Evie’s eyes are as wide as sauces as she takes in all her options. “Momma I don’t know what I want to eat.” She admits. “There are so many choices and-” she stops midsentence as she finally notices Diggle who is sitting on the recliner chair opposite her. “Hello.” She greets shyly, shifting herself so she’s tucked a little bit more into Oliver’s side.

“Evie, this is mine and Oliver’s friend, John Diggle, he makes sure Oliver stays safe.” Felicity tells her, kneeling down next to them both and brushing her hand over Evie’s head.

Evie nods and moves forward, holding out her hand. “Hello, I’m Evelyn Sara Smoak, but everyone calls me Evie, except grammy because she calls me honey buns, and momma, she calls me hon, and Tommy, he calls me lots of different names! He usually has a new name for me everyday. Momma can we go to the zoo once we’ve had breakfast.”

It’s clear that all three adults present need a few seconds to recover from the little girls babble, however Diggle, who clearly has the most coffee in his system is the first to recover. “She’s definitely your daughter Felicity.” He tells her, wondering filling his voice.

“Ha, poor girl,” she admits with a laugh. “But the zoo sounds like fun Evs.”

“Can Oliver and Mr. Diggle come as well?” Evie asks, her face all of a sudden smeared with chocolate sauce.

“A trip to the zoo sounds great,” Diggle agrees. “And I’m sure Oliver will come along as well.”

She bites back the groan that comes to the back of her throat. The absolute last thing she needs right this moment is to spend a day at the zoo playing happy quasi family with Oliver Queen. Especially now that she’s just decided that Oliver Queen is a no go.

Then she looks at Evie’s face, and she does not have it in her heart to take back the permission for the zoo. So, she makes a pact that they’ll have this one day, all three of them together and then the line will be back and her two worlds and two lives will have very limited interaction ever again.

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS- I'm hoping to update before 5x20 but I can't make any promises so if I don't I hope you all love the episode and it makes all our dreams come true xxx


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part one of two. Except the part two is coming slowly. And wasn't flowing with this part. So here's the next chapter. We see a little bit of Tommy's reaction to a few chapters ago. And the outcome of that. And perhaps a second Olicity sleepover. If you read between the lines.

The night he finds out about his best friend being the Vigilante he wants to punch something. Well. He wants to punch _someone_. Repetitively.

Except that he can’t. He physically cannot bring himself to do it.

Mostly because Oliver is literally all muscle these days and well, he’s the damn vigilante who can kill people with his bare hands.

But also, just a little bit because the guy is his recently returned from the dead best friend and that has to count for something. Surely.

Maybe.

Tommy isn’t even thinking about how his new revelation is going to affect his relationship with Felicity and Evelyn.

It’s all just so confusing.

And Tommy Merlyn does not like being confused.

And he also doesn’t like having what had been the best birthday week ever being turned into this huge emotional revelation where his father nearly died and – he can’t even think of it right now.

His half filled cup becomes the only solace he has, because Laurel is working through her own stuff right now and it’s not like he can tell her what he now knows because she might try and arrest Oliver. Or something.

Like maybe realise that she’s in love with the wrong billionaire.

He decides the scotch he’s drinking isn’t making him drunk enough so he downs his glass and switches to Tequila shots.

Because he’s smart like that. 

He’s also smart enough to find his other best friend’s house when he’s almost blind drunk and that’s something impressive in and of itself.

What he hadn’t counted on in this brilliant plan, was Oliver, best friend and vigilante, coming out of Felicity’s, other best friend and mother to the most adorable daughter ever, apartment.

Tommy’s blood boils and his head spins and all he really feels right now is rage. Like he definitely wants to punch something or someone, whoever is closest really.

“Tommy?” Oliver asks as he places a hand on Tommy’s shoulder as he stumbles forward and almost looses his balance.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, no doubt slurring his words, but I his mind they come out coherent. Maybe he should punch Oliver, he reasons without reasoning.

Oliver glances behind him to the front door of Felicity’s apartment. The boiling blood inches up in temperature. “I just came over to see if she’d heard from you.”

When someone has spent this long lying to you, you see the tells and in his incredibly drunken state, Tommy recognises the lie when he sees it. Or maybe he’s always known but didn’t want to admit to himself that Oliver was keeping something from him.

“And the truth?”

“That is the truth.” Oliver is resolute, his face not shifting and inch. Tommy wonders when deception became second nature to him.

“Bullshit.”

“What are you two doing out here?” Tommy spins, as much as he can towards Felicity who, thankfully does not look like she’s had a booty call this late at night.

“I came to see you.” Again his words are probably slurred but that’s okay, Felicity has dealt with Drunk Tommy more than enough times to understand what he’s saying and he and Oliver basically raised Drunk Tommy through infancy.

“You’re drunk.” From the look of Felicity’s face she also means he’s not allowed in.

“I have a lot on my mind.”

Flick blanches for a minute. “Then you give me a call before you drink all your problems away.”

He vaguely remembers that he doesn’t like it when Felicity gets mad at him. And that she doesn’t like it when he’s drunk. And perhaps this little excursion is a really bad idea if the fact that there is triple the amount of people in the corridor then he remembered.

“I’ll take him home.” Oliver number one volunteers. The other two are nodding next to him.

“I don’t think he’ll make it.” Felicity number two replies, taking another step closer as the other two frown from behind.

The last thing he remembers about that night is the startled look on all six of his friends faces as he topples towards the floor.

****

“Momma, Tommy doesn’t look good.”

“That’s because Tommy made himself sick last night and that’s something we never do. Ever.”

“How do you make yourself sick?”

“By putting bad stuff that you know you shouldn’t have lots of into your body and thinking you’ll be okay.”

“Like that time I had too many Easter eggs and Grandpa Malcom had to take me home early?”

“Exactly like that time Evs.”

“I’m never going to do that again. Will Tommy do this again?”

“I don’t know, poke him till he wakes up.”

He feels tiny fingers prodding his, well he’s not quite sure what part it is but there’s fingers and there’s poking and his eyes slip open for a millisecond too long and he can hear the rumble of the TV and since when did traffic get so damn loud.

“I think he’s awake momma.”

“Poke him more.” He’s sober enough to recognise that Felicity is probably glaring at him over a cup of coffee. He feels it keenly when Evie’s fingers poke his eyeballs a few times for good measure.

“Okay, okay, I’m up!” He means that figuratively of course because he can barely coordinate his eyes let alone any other limbs.

“Morning Tommy!” Evie’s voice pierces through his apparent hangover like shattering glass shards and the unintentional flinch hurts more than Tommy would be willing to admit.

“Morning Evs.” Even to his own ears his voice sounds awful.

“I’m glad you’re awake. Oliver brought breakfast again. And momma said I can have bacon this morning how exciting is that? And yesterday we went to the zoo with momma and Oliver and their friend Diggle who’s really big and scary at first but then he gave my piggybacks all around and took super funny photos with me. And Oliver bought us all ice-creams because I went into the lizard enclosure with him. I wanna go again! Momma, can we go to the zoo today, with Tommy this time because I want to show him the elephant family we met yesterday.”

He sneaks open an eye and sees Evie kneeling next to the couch, a stuffed elephant clutched in her had and her blue eyes shinning with excitement.

“I don’t think Tommy will be up for anything to labour intensive this morning Evs, but we can see if Oliver and Digg will take you to the park while Tommy and I have chat.” He knows that tone of voice, and he knows what face goes with that tone of voice. Tommy Merlyn is many things right now including being in a lot of self inflicted hangover pain but absolutely terrified of Felicity Smoak when she’s got her ‘I’m about to use my Loud Voice’ face on is the only thing he’s really feeling right now.

“Okay momma!” Evie bounds over to the recliner where, Tommy notices for the first time, his best friend is sitting with a stony look on his face. “Can you and Mr. Diggle take me to the park?”

“Sure thing Evs, why don’t you get a coat on.” Tommy can assume that the smile that Evelyn gives Oliver is as bright as anyone he’s ever gotten from her. She bounds into her room making elephant or some sort of animal noise as she thunders around.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?” Oliver asks, standing, stretching and placing a hand on Felicity’s shoulder, a sign of comfort, Tommy assumes.

“We’re long overdue for a screaming match I’m sure.” If that’s Felicity’s attempt at reassuring Oliver then she has a lot to work on. Oliver’s face tenses and is jaw ticks, a warning glance aimed at him not going unnoticed by either of them.

“How long do you want us out for?”

“Long enough for me to kill him, dispose of the body and clean the place up?”

Oliver goddamn Queen smiles and chuckles as his thumbs rub over Felicity’s shoulder. “Well, let me know if you need a hand. I can bail you out of jail for sure.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I’m ready!” Evie calls as she thunders back into the room. “Can I get a pet elephant?”

“No.” The answer comes out unanimously from all three adults in the room.

“But maybe we can get a pet when you’re older and can look after it.”

“Okay.” There’s a pause. Tommy almost things they’re in the clear. “Momma?”

“Yes pumpkin?”

“Can I get a puppy?”

No such luck. And he’s definitely glad that he’s still in that sweet spot of drunken soberness that means that he himself doesn’t have to break Evie’s heart.

“No pumpkin, we can get one when you’re older.” Felicity’s voice is tired, worn. He wonders briefly if that’s his fault.

“But momma, I’m older now.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy and Felicity have words, Felicity has a dream and Evelyn chats to her sleepy mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back.
> 
> Once again the writers block attacked and it was a bitch and here we are. 
> 
> Enjoy!

“So,” he begins as Felicity watches him over the rim of her coffee mug in the recliner adjacent to him. “On a scale of 1 to 10 how bad was I?”

She hums slightly, fingers tapping away. By his count this could possibly be the fourth cup of coffee she’s had today. He doesn’t bring it up, fearing that any caffeine induced energy could then be directed towards his head in a physical manner rather than an angry babble of words streaming out of her mouth.

“Okay, so, I was bad. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise to me, apologise to Oliver. He had to carry your dead weight inside and sleep on the recliner.” She folds her legs underneath her, resting her mug on the tip of her knee. “Are you gonna tell me what’s really bothering you?”

“Flick,” he whispers. “I’m not ready to talk yet.”

“I don’t care. You don’t get to come into my house, three sheets to the wind and not talk to me about what’s going on. The last time you were this bad-”

She pauses, briefly, finding her mug to be the most interesting aspect of this conversation for a few seconds. He can already tell what she’s going to say, shame rising up below the anger that had been simmering beneath the surface for the last forty-eight hours.

“Go on, spit it out. Say what you’re thinking, we both know how good you are at that.” He spits the words out, the anger getting the better of him in a way he hadn’t felt for a long time. Since-

“That’s in the past Tommy, I was hoping it would stay that way.” Her voice is controlled again, level, as though she was working on not letting her annoyance at him creep into the conversation. He’s seen it time and time again at various work function he’d gone to as her plus one. He’s just never had it directed his way before.

“You brought it up.”

“You broke a promise.”

“You should have known it was going to happen eventually.” He lets out a sarcastic laugh. “You’d never admit it, least of all to yourself. But you doubted me. Felicity Smoak, believer in people, annoying optimist, doesn’t believe in Tommy Merlyn after all these years.”

“I believe in actions, Tommy, not empty promises. And you’ve broken your fair share of promises.” He hates that she’s not wrong. That in this moment her anger towards him his completely justified.

His anger flares up again. He can’t help it, even in his hungover state. “And what has Oliver done to earn your trust exactly? Smile at you nicely a few times, sweet talk you in that classic Ollie way.”

“What’s he done to lose yours?” She shoots back, just as fiery as he is now. “Because the way I remember it, you were devastated when your best friend died. And now, something’s changed Tommy. We both know it. But that does not mean that you get to push me away. And you especially don’t get to do it the same way you almost killed my daughter.”

He reels back from her, sinking further into the couch then he ever thought possible. It’s like she’s slapped him across the face. It had been coming, the mention of that terrible day not so long ago. But that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt all the same.

“I should go.”

“I agree.”

“Flick,” his voice breaks as he meets her gaze.

“Don’t.” Her eyes are tear filled and he can’t help the feelings of regret that begin to build up. “When you get your act together and want to start acting like an adult, let me know. Until then, I don’t think you should be around me or Evie at the moment.”

He shrugs. “If that’s what you want.”

“For now, it is.”

Despite his better judgement, he walks out the door and doesn’t look back.

****

_“What do I say?” Felicity asks Sara as they sit on her bed, legs crossed and the four pregnancy tests in-between them._

_Sara shrugs as she continues to stare at the pregnancy tests. “Hey mom I’m gonna have a little goth baby?”_

_She throws a pillow in Sara’s face. “Let me think about that.” She makes a thinking face. “How about no.”_

_Sara laughs to herself. “Why are you worrying so much?”_

_“Because I’m 18 and pregnant?” She says it as though it’s the most obvious thing in the world._

_“So? You’ve got a full ride and you won’t be due until the summer break anyway. You’ll still be able to do all of your courses, and last I heard, Queen Consolidated has a super good maternity leave program.” Sara slips off the bed as she’s talking, grabbing her laptop from her bag and handing it to Felicity. “Do what you do best and research the shit out of all your options. When you have all the information you could possibly have, well come up with plans.”_

_Felicity glances up at Sara’s blue-green eyes and smiles. “Why does that sound familiar?”_

_Sara pulls a face of mock concentration. “Hmm I don’t know. Maybe you also had this little pixie chick riding you all semester.”_

_A pillow is launched in Sara’s general direction, causing both of the girls to break out into giggles._

_****_

Cold feet startle her from her dream as they press against her thighs. After three years of Evie sleeping in her own bed, Felicity is used to her little girl climbing into her bed to sleep after a bad dream or just because she’s had an overwhelming need for comfort. She smells Evie’s newly washed hair before she feels her borrow into the covers. Old hands reach out and grasp for Felicity’s, and it takes everything in her not to shy away from the contact.

“I had a good day today momma,” Evie whispers, mostly to herself because it’s ridiculously late/early for anyone alive right now and the little girl knows that her mother is probably sleeping. However, Felicity usually always wakes up to Evelyn whenever she crawls into bed and always listens as Evelyn rambles herself to sleep as she tells her supposedly sleeping mother stories of her day. For Felicity, it’s her favourite part of her day.

There’s a brief pause and a rustle of the sheets. “Oliver and Mr. Diggle are super fun and they’re super strong as well. They pushed me on the swings and I went so high, momma, I felt like I was going to be touching the stars. I never felt scared though, because I know that Oliver and Mr. Diggle are gonna catch me whenever I fall. But they’re not going to let me fall. I’m sure of it.”

Felicity hadn’t had a lot of time with Evelyn after she’d returned from the park with Oliver and Diggle, not that her mood allowed her to have the mental capacity to deal with her overly enthusiastic child. Between Tommy and her conflicted feelings about Oliver and the fact that he’d ended up spending another night at her apartment when she’d firmly decided that their relationship would be strictly professional and platonic.

“I love Tommy though momma. I don’t wanna lose him but I feel like he’s angry all the time now. And I don’t want him to hate me for liking Oliver. Will he hate me for liking Oliver?” Evie’s voice gets quieter and quieter until she’s trailing off into tiny whispers, that just brush air over Felicity’s face. “Oliver would be a good dad. Or a stepdad like Lola’s momma’s boyfriend. They’re a cool family.”

Felicity almost can’t fight back the grin that crosses her face as her daughter talks, having imagined briefly what this future would look like with Oliver in the picture. Except Evie doesn’t know what Oliver does at night, what she does at night and it terrifies her that maybe one day her daughter will come to hate her the way Tommy hates Oliver at the moment because of what they do in secret for this city.

The thought crosses her mind that maybe Tommy will hate her as much as he hates Oliver when he finds out. She pushes it away from her thoughts, the mere thought of it making her stomach churn in ways that make her remember the serious bouts of morning sickness.

“I miss Aunt Sara,” Evelyn continues, her voice raising again so that now she’s talking with her full voice. “I know I’ve never met her, but I miss her. Sometimes I feel like she’s watching over me, protecting me, like when I was on the swings today and I was super high in the sky, it felt like someone was watching me. And not just Oliver and Mr. Diggle. I like all the stories that Aunt Laurel tells me about her though, like about the canary, maybe I should get a canary and name it Sara? And that time you and Aunt Sara broke into the pool one summer and Poppa Q had to arrest you both.”

Silence falls between them again as Evie shifts closer to Felicity, coiling herself into a ball against her mother’s side.

“I think I want to learn to play the piano. But we can talk about that in the morning momma, when you’ve had some coffee. Goodnight momma, I love you.” She feels Evie’s lips press against her cheek before she drifts off back to sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

_“Hello? Is this Felicity Smoak?” She’s half asleep on the couch when she answers her phone. Her TV is still on in the background, far further into the series she’d started then she had been when she’d passed out three glasses of wine into her night off from mothering. Her blanket is draped around her shoulders and there’s socks on her feet that she doesn’t remember putting on. She deduces that in her sleepy television binging haze she must have rummaged through her draws for her socks, or something._

_Anyway._

_“Yes, this is she.” She’s 100% sure that her voice had just broken worse than a teenage boy. If she’d had coffee her thoughts would be more coherent but alas._

_“I’m going to need you to come down to Starling General, there’s been an accident and you’re listed as a next of kin for an Evelyn Sara Smoak and Thomas Merlyn?”_

****

She doesn’t talk to Tommy for a month, which is possibly the longest she’s ever gone without talking to him, total mental breakdown in friendship two years ago not withstanding. It would have been harder and she would have given in if she didn’t have her work with Digg and Oliver to keep her occupied. Not that she’d been able to do a whole lot since she stopped talking to Tommy, given that she no longer had a free babysitter she trusted enough to look after Evie.

Of course, that all comes crashing down when Count Vertigo makes his appearance and Tommy becomes a person of interest in the case. Oliver is stressed, not that he’d tell anyone, but she can see it in the set of his shoulders and the way he asks her to buy a couple of dozen packets of tennis balls that all magically make it into her trash can in the forty-five minutes she’s picking up Evie and dropping her off at a ballet.

She’s not much better, she’s not going to lie. She’s been at the club more and more in an official capacity as Oliver and Tommy’s IT girl plus she’s still trying to find Walter, while navigating the dangerous world of the Diggle/Oliver dynamic as the two men snap at each other worse than an old married couple. She has to time visits to the club to coincide with Oliver’s visits because if there’s someone that Tommy doesn’t want to talk to more than her, it’s Oliver.

So imagine her stress levels when she ends up sitting in the office with Tommy, Oliver and Detective Lance.

“I’ve got a warrant,” Lance is telling them, holding out the piece of paper in question. She doesn’t miss the baleful look that both boys give the paper before looking at each other. “I don’t know what you two have gotten yourselves into, but I don’t want to do this.”

Unsurprisingly she, Tommy and Oliver all scoff and chuckle in unison. It’s the first united show of strength from all three in months and it would warm her heart a little if it wasn’t for the fact that she’s still pissed at Tommy and she’s more than slightly annoyed at Oliver.

The look Lance gives them both silences them and she shuffles her feet a little, finding the light fixture on Oliver’s antique desk, very out of place in a club if you ask her, extremely interesting and needing her utmost attention.

“The warrant covers the entire club, including the basement.”

“Because if there’s anywhere that I would be stupid enough to hide drugs it would be the basement,” Tommy snaps, openly glaring at the piece of paper in question.

Oliver barely holds back his snort, and she can’t help the smile that pops up.

“Can you talk some sense into them?” Lance directs at her with an accusatory glare. “Apparently you’re all buddy-buddy or something?”

Tommy lets out a sarcastic laugh that has her shooting a glare in his direction. “We’re not talking, I’m not trustworthy, that seems to be the general gist of everything at the moment.”

“Tommy,” she hisses, “Now is probably not the time for you to bring up your wounded ego.”

“My ego is wounded so I’ll bring it up whenever I want.”

She resists all the urges she has to poke her tongue out at him, instead redirecting her bubbling anger towards Lance.

“This could be considered harassment,” she tells him once she’s finally chosen her words. “I’m absolutely sure that your daughter will feel the same way.”

Lance rolls his eyes. “You think I don’t know that?”

“We should get this over with, have at it, Detective Lance, we have nothing to hide,” Oliver finally says, standing up straight and moving so that he was almost toe to toe with Lance. She doesn’t miss the way that Oliver’s actions make Tommy also stand, as if to take a step between the two men should things get physical.

She wonders briefly if Tommy realises that Oliver could literally break him in half should he be tempted, but she also figures that Oliver wouldn’t hurt Tommy in any type of confrontation, regardless of Oliver’s anger issues.

She and Tommy stand aside as Oliver charms the pants off of the uniformed officers as he shows them around the club and they start to take part the bar and all of the upstairs store rooms. It’s the first time they’ve been alone since their argument and while telling her mother she was pregnant had been mortifying in so many ways, nothing in her life had ever been as awkward as standing next to her (ex?) best friend a month after a potential friendship destroying fight.

“Shouldn’t you be doing this?” She finally asks after close to an hour has elapsed. “I mean, Oliver’s money created this, but you’re the one that put in all the hard work.”

Tommy glances down at her for a second before looking away. “Oliver’s always charmed people better than me, besides, I’m the one they think is the drug dealer.”

“Tommy,” she sighs when she hears the tinges of bitterness in his voice. “I never thought you were a drug dealer, for the record.”

He rolls his eyes. “I’m not a drug dealer but you don’t trust me with your kid.”

She rolls hers also. “If you’d let me finish.”

“Go ahead.”

“But you are a drug user. You’ve got a history. They know that, they investigated the accident. You should have gone to jail but your father bought the judge and we all know it, so of course when there’s drugs like these involved you’re going to be a suspect. Don’t take it personally.”

She nearly jumps a foot in the air as she hears a fist collide with the bar. “Is everyone forgetting that half of my drug fuelled escapades also featured my equally rowdy best friend?”

“Are you forgetting that he was trapped on island for five years and has only partied once since his return?” She shoots back, her anger coming back full force. “And while we’re on this topic, Oliver wasn’t in that car with you when you crashed it. And Oliver wasn’t here when you accidentally lost Evie in the mall because you were wasted. So I don’t think it’s entirely fair to be blaming Oliver for your bad decision making process.”

Tommy simply glares at her and the approaching Oliver before storming off into the office, the side door slamming in the process.

“What’s going on?” Oliver asks, laying a hand on her shoulder in concern.

“My first time talking to my best friend ended in him storming out, again, a seemingly recurring theme in our relationship over the last few months,” she tells him, reaching for her favourite bottle of Moscato. “Mind if I steal this for later?”

Oliver shakes his head in amusement, a light filling his eyes that had been missing the last few weeks. As much time as they’d spent together over the last month, they hadn’t had the chance to actually spend time together, which was partly by design but that doesn’t mean she didn’t miss the few movie nights on her couch they’d had with Evie before everything had fallen apart.

“Take the whole case,” he stages whispers. “But maybe wait until later.”

She nods in agreement. “That would be a good idea.”

“We need you to open up the basement,” Lance calls over to them as he approaches, a stormy look on his face. Over his shoulder she sees Tommy reappear from the office, an equally stormy look on his face and a file in one of his hands.

****

She finds Tommy mulling over a glass of whiskey when she finally finishes up with Oliver and Lance, who had gotten into a rather heated argument about Lance’s treatment of the club and of Tommy in the last twenty-four hours. There had been a few harassment lawsuit threats being thrown around but she’d managed to step in before Laurel had to do her lawyer thing against her father for her boyfriend and ex-boyfriend.

“Hey,” she says, laying a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?” she hops up onto the stool next to his, pouring herself a drink in the process.

“You were surprised when you saw the basement,” he tells her, his tone clipped and short. “Like you were surprised that it looked like a storage room. Which is funny considering there has never been anything down there apart from a storage room.”

Her stomach sinks at his words, easily following where Tommy’s thought process has gone. She’s lost for words as he turns and looks at her, his eyes more haunted then she’s ever seen them.

“And then it kind of all fell together. I _do_ know this place better than Oliver, so I know that the amount of tech work that you need to do is minimal now, and yet I’ve had people telling me you were here four nights in a row with Oliver. Then I remembered that the Vigilante would need a base of operations, and where did Oliver keep disappearing to when he first came back? Oh, the Glades. And where is the club? In the Glades?” He pauses to study her for a moment. “And that reaction right there, well, the lack of reaction really? Yeah. I figured it all out.”

“Tommy,” she whispers reaching out to him. “I-”

“You’re helping him kill people Felicity.” Tommy’s voice breaks as he says her name, turning full to face her now, drink abandoned. “You’re an accomplice.”

She shakes her head as tears springs into her eyes. “Tommy-”

“Were _you_ going to tell me?”

She can’t lie to him, not when his eyes are boring into her soul. He knows her. He knows the answer. “No.”

“Get out.”

“Tommy!”

“Get. Out. Go and see Oliver, go and see your _daughter._ Just don’t sit here looking at me with those big eyes.”

Her feet wobble as she stands, her entire body shaking as her heart races. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“It doesn’t matter now, Felicity.” He downs the rest of his drink. “Although I do feel better now that I’m not the only person in this friendship that is an unfit parent.”

****

“Hey.” Oliver’s voice startles her out of her thoughts as he makes his way down the stairs. “Are you okay?”

“Tommy knows that we work together,” she tells him as she turns in her chair. “He put two and two together when I was apparently surprised at the way the basement looked. Realised that in all of my work here I should never have come down here therefore I should have known that something other than booze should have been down there. He’s pissed.”

Oliver runs his hands over his face wearily, taking a seat down next to her. “We knew this was a possibility.”

“A possibility, sure, but this thing actually happening, not so much.” She sighs, dropping her head onto the table. “He called me an unfit mother.”

“He doesn’t have the right to call you that.” Oliver tells her, resting a hand on her shoulder again, giving her a slight squeeze.

“Yeah, Oliver, he does. Because I said the same thing to him two years ago.”

****

_“I need to see my daughter, Evelyn Smoak? And Tommy Merlyn?” The nurses station is buzzing with activity for this late at night. Felicity is out of breath, her clothes mismatched and her hair a literal beehive on her head._

_“Felicity?” She turns around at the sound of Malcom Merlyn’s voice. “They’re through here, I can take you to them if you’d like.”_

_He wraps an arm around her shoulder and leads her into the private wing of the hospital. “I can’t afford this,” she tells him._

_“Nonsense, you’re family,” Malcom tells her with a wave of his hand. “I’ve got the best doctors working on them as we speak.”_

_She nods her head slowly, letting herself be moved through the corridors of the hospital until they finally stop in front of a glass window. “Malcom, what happened?”_

_Malcom sighs heavily turning her to face him. “Tommy ran a red light.”_

_Her world crashes down for a brief second as she comprehends Malcom’s words. “What?”_

_“He’d been drinking, Felicity, I don’t know the full details, but he was drunk. He’s in the OR at the moment and Evie has, evidently, been looked at.”_

_“Mr. Merlyn? Is this your daughter?” A doctor in a lab coat asks as he steps out of Evie’s room._

_“Yes, this is Felicity, Evelyn’s mother, can you please update on her condition?”_

_****_

_“Are we gonna talk about this?” Tommy asks, peeking his head around the corner of Evie’s door. “Because I can totally understand what you’re thinking and what you’re going to say. And I just, Flick god, I’m so sorry.”_

_She rolls her eyes and squeezes Evie’s hand again. She’s always hated hospitals. Even when she’d had Evie she’d hated hospitals with all of their needles and the to clean smell and the antiseptic smell. She just hates it. But she hates seeing her little girl with tubes surrounding her, protruding out of her. Her eyes are black from the airbags, her right leg and left arm bandaged up in casts. There’s bandages winding around Evie’s head where her brain surgery had been. And the real kicker had been the breathing tube helping her previously healthy little girl breath properly._

_“She could_ die _Tommy,” she tells him, her voice breaking completely as tears flood her eyes. “My kid, my daughter, Evie! She could die and you’re trying to make me laugh? You’ve got to be kidding me. You should be in jail.”_

_Tommy’s crying as well, taking a seat on Evie’s other side, his fingers running up and down her cast softly. “I don’t even-”_

_“You don’t even remember what happened, yeah I know. We talked about it with your doctor. You woke up with a killer hangover am I right?” She pauses for a few moments as her words wash over Tommy. “What the hell were you thinking? Getting behind the wheel like you did, with Evie in the car?”_

_Tommy lets out a sigh. “I don’t know.”_

_“You. Don’t. Know?” It’s all but a growl._

_“I don’t remember.”_

_She laughs. Loudly, as it spills from her pursed lips, shocking them both. She hadn’t meant it to sounds quite jovial, but she shrugs it off and puts it on her frayed emotional state at the moment._

_“I don’t know why I ever trusted that you were reformed.” She tells, him, her voice layered with several layers of hate. “Everyone told me that I couldn’t trust you, even Laurel, even your father, your damn father Tommy. But did I listen to them, of course not! Because you never gave me a reason to not trust you. You’ve always been this light in both of our lives that just made everything so much better. You were the father I never knew Evie needed.”_

_“Flick,” Tommy starts, cutting her off as she pauses herself, taking a deep breath._

_“I’m not finished!” Her voice is getting choked now, the tears streaming freely down her cheeks as she studies the peaceful expression on her daughters bruised and battered face. “I trusted you. I TRUSTED you. With everything, with her. And then you come and do something like this? What were you thinking.”_

_“You needed a night off.”_

_“I NEEDED A NIGHT OFF?” She knows for a fact that she’s got her loud voice on. She knows that she shouldn’t be yelling while her kid is lying next to her in coma. “You risked my daughters’ life because you thought I needed a night off? Get out Tommy.”_

_“Can you let me explain?”_

_“You have nothing to explain because you can’t remember Tommy! You got behind the wheel of a car while you were not only drunk, but high as well with my daughter in the car, you ran a red light and you totalled your car and put my kid in a coma. That’s all there is to say. Now get out.” She’s standing by the time she’s finished her word vomit, gesturing at the door for Tommy to leave._

_He stands, presses a soft kiss against Evie’s head and gives Felicity an undefinable look before slowly walking from the room._

****

“I like to think that Sara was watching over Evie that night,” Felicity tells Oliver as she finishes her recount of those awful few week Evie had spent in hospital. “Believe it or not, Malcom was a godsend with it all, and Walter gave me all the time off I needed, that’s why I feel like I owe him. Evie doesn’t really remember it, she’s always just thought that Tommy was this awesome guy and I couldn’t tell her anything different. But he almost got her killed, and what I do now, here with you, that puts her in more danger than Tommy ever did so is he really that wrong when he says that I’m an unfit mother? Really?”

Oliver studies his hands intently as he contemplates her words. “I would never let anything happen to her, Felicity, you know that right? And if safety is a concern you can have Diggle.”

“I don’t need a bodyguard Oliver,” she tells him with a brief roll of her eyes.

“You might. Merlyn was targeted for a reason, if people think that you guys are close you might be a target.” She shudders at his words, a frown forming on her face.

“I currently don’t have a relationship with any of the Merlyn’s Oliver, didn’t you hear? I’m an unfit mother, that’s certainly a way to end a friendship if I’ve ever heard one.” She bangs her head against the desk again, wincing when it hurts a little more than she had anticipated.

Oliver chuckles beside her. “You know what you need?”

“Therapy?” She retorts. “It would be perfect for me, just chattering away because I have no filter whatsoever.”

Another chuckle. She likes the sound. “You need to go and pick up Evie, go home, have dinner and read your little girl a bedtime story. Then you’re going to put on your TV and catch up on your shows. And you’re not going to worry about me or Digg or Tommy.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

“Then do it.”

She glances up at him through her eyelashes. He looks as tired as she feels, the weight of the world on his shoulders and the guilt radiating off him. He isn’t looking at her, rather past her, focussing on the wall behind her. He’s got his typical stubble, but his hair seems longer now, and he seems sadder.

“Only if you come with me.”

“By very definition, not worrying about me means that you can’t be around me,” Oliver points out.

“Um that doesn’t make sense,” she tells him regretfully. “I wouldn’t worry about you if you were with me.”

“That does make more sense,” he replies, a small smile gracing his face. “You’re remarkable.”

“Thank you for remarking on it.” Their eyes meet and it’s like her thoughts about keeping her distance are gone. All she wants is in this moment, and possibly every other moment from now on, is to feel his arms wrapped around her as she wakes up in the morning. “Are you in?”

Oliver nods, an actual smile gracing his face and she’s struck again about how good he looks. “Sure, but if you’re sure.”

“I had a thought,” she tells him rather than answering. “Because as much as I love my couch, my bed is made of literal clouds.”

Pink spreads up through Oliver’s cheeks as he comprehends the implications of her words. But then he smiles more fully again and the butterflies in her stomach increase tenfold.

“Not that anything like _that_ needs to happen unless you want it too but like, you know, but sleeping and only sleeping, can happen in my bed. Because I’ve got a TV in my room even though I know that’s a bad idea but does it really matter when you-”

She’s cut off from talking by Oliver, who had moved forward and grabbed Felicity by the shoulders and kissed her firmly on the lips.

She sinks into him, relaxing as he parts her lips with his tongue and brings her arms up to wrap around his shoulders. She can feel him smile slightly as she kisses back, which only makes her make the kiss deeper.

“Your lips are like pillow mountains,” she tells him seriously. “I like it.”

He lets out a laugh, his breath blowing across her face. “Good.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooooo
> 
> We can blame my drunken alert ego for this chapter and that particular ending. But like, it's an AU and i figured why not. It made sense at the time and now sober me is mostly super happy with how it's turned out.
> 
> Drop a comment below and I'll see you guys soon!
> 
> Much love!


	10. Chapter 10

“Oliver you cook good,” Evie says as she licks the batter for the pancakes off of the spoon. “Better than momma that for sure. We always have to buy pancake mix where you just add water, and then we have to set the timer and usually we end up having scrambled pancakes which isn’t that bad, but proper pancakes are better.”

Evie had been pretty excited when her mom had arrived at her dance class with Oliver in tow and looking very out of place. She’d bounced over with her ballet bag hanging over shoulder. Her whole face had lit up upon seeing them, causing a smile to break out over Oliver’s face as well. They’d spent the car ride back to Felicity’s apartment chattering away, Evie telling both of the adults all about her day at school and the time she got to spend with her very best friend Zoe and how excited she was for the school play. She’d managed to change conversation topics at least twenty times in the short drive, and if Oliver hadn’t have been spending so much time around Felicity he might have gotten whiplash.

“We don’t cook a whole lot here,” Evie is continuing. “If we do cook, it’s only because Tommy or Papa Q come over and cook us a whole lot of food and we have it for left overs every day until we run out. I like the food and it’s healthy and stuff but it gets so boring.”

Oliver’s whole body tenses at the mention of Tommy and Papa Q, who he assumes to be Quentin Lance and wonders how Felicity had managed to put together such a mismatched family. Despite this, however, Oliver felt the overwhelming desire to be a part of this family, to have had the history with the Smoak girls that everyone else in his life seemed to have.

“Hey!” Felicity protests entering the kitchen having just changed out of her work clothes. “I can cook pasta.”

Evie turns to give her mother an eye roll. “Mom anyone can cook pasta. _I_ can cook pasta.”

“No, you can’t cook pasta Evs because you’re too little.”

Evie gives her mother another eye roll and pouts before slinking back behind Oliver. “I’m not little!”

Felicity snorts out a laugh as she takes in the sight of Evie, who was small even for her age, against Oliver, who was made of muscle and well above six feet. “Righteo kiddo.”

“Who wants pancakes?” Oliver interrupts as he finally flips the last one onto the pile of pancakes.

“Pancakes? For dinner?” Felicity asks in shock. “That’s a thing?”

Oliver makes a face, turning to the fridge and pulling out the whipped cream and ice-cream. “I couldn’t find anything else,” he admits, guilt tinging his tone. “But Tommy and I used to do this all the time when our parents were away, which as a fair bit, really.”

Evie’s ears perk up at the mention of her godfather. “Tommy should come over!” She proclaims loudly, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Oliver and Felicity exchange glances at the mention of Tommy who neither of them had heard from post the massive revelation of Felicity knowing Oliver’s secret identity. “Tommy is busy tonight sweet pea,” Felicity starts off, her voice trembling slightly before forcing herself to even out.

Evie pouts again. “But momma, I haven’t seen Tommy in ages. Is he coming to my play?”

Felicity bites her bottom lip. “I don’t know Evie, I really don’t.”

“Are you fighting?” The little girl challenges. “Is that why Tommy doesn’t want to see me? Because he’s mad at you?”

“No, Evie, we’re not fighting. Tommy has just been super busy with work and stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Tommy doesn’t have to spend all of his time with us Evie,” Felicity reminds her, her tone of voice becoming firmer by the syllable. “And we don’t have to spend all our time with Tommy. We all have separate lives.”

There’s a foot stomp and a cry in frustration. “Momma I wanna see Tommy!”

“Not tonight Evie. And if you keep this up, then you can go to bed without pancakes.”

Silence falls between all three. Oliver retreats back slightly, moving from between the two to standing off to the side, a solemn look on his face. Felicity’s face is turning a flushed pink colour and Evie is simply crying, her blue eyes bigger then Oliver had seen them and watery.

Realising that her mother would not be persuaded tonight, Evie throws the spoon she’d been clutching into the sink before storming out of the room, a door slam indicating that she’d opted for her room over dinner. Felicity lets out a breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding and places a hand on the kitchen counter top to steady herself.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she tells him softly, her voice breaking as she meets his gaze. “It doesn’t happen often and I just couldn’t deal with it tonight.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Oliver tells her, moving in closer so that she’s within hugging distance should she need it. “I’m guessing she’s not used to hearing the word _no_ when it comes to seeing Tommy.”

Felicity laughs a little, wiping her tears out of the corner of her eye. “She’s never had to ask before, he’s always just been around. Even when Tommy and I weren’t talking after the accident, she knew he wouldn’t be around as much because he was just as hurt as she was. By the time we made up Evie was still none the wiser.”

“He’s a good guy.”

“Yeah he is.”

They lapse into silence as they turn their attention to the stack of pancakes Oliver had prepared earlier. They don’t mention their kiss at Verdant, or talk about Tommy and they definitely don’t discuss their feelings towards their current situations.

However the silence isn’t awkward. Ever since she’d started to help him, sitting in silence had never been a problem. They did it all the time, usually while he worked out and trained and she did whatever she did on the computers. As a team with Diggle, they worked seamlessly together, each one somehow sensing what the others needed. Diggle knew when he needed to give Oliver some space, and Oliver knew when to leave Felicity and Diggle alone. Similarly Felicity knew when both men preferred her to not be present when they were training together as they often didn’t pull any punches and both men knew how uneasy Felicity felt around excessive violence.

Having a team had never been in his plans when he’d returned from the island. Bringing in Diggle had only occurred when Oliver had realised just how good Diggle was. Felicity had been similar when he’d decided to bring her in on this as well. In the process of having them both in his life, Oliver had turned from solitary figure running around arrowing people in the dead of night, to someone who depended on the help provided by Diggle and Felicity to see him through each night.

It was a startling realisation for him, to feel an urge to need people again after all these years. He knows that he had formed close bonds with Shado and Slade on the island, and he and Sara had formed an unbreakable bond before she had died, but now, he didn’t need to survive by himself anymore. He wonders briefly if this was development, further proof that he’d been changed beyond belief on the island.

“These are good,” Felicity comments as she scrapes the last of the whipped cream off of her plate. “Where did you learn to cook?”

“Raisa,” he replies softly, pushing his plate away from him gently and leaning back against the chair. “Thea and I would do these mini cooking classes with her when we were younger. Pancakes were the first thing she taught us.”

Felicity raises her wine glass towards him in salute. “She taught you well then.”

“Thank-you.”

They lapse into silence again, both finishing off the last of their wine before collecting the dishes and taking them back into the kitchen.

“Do you want to wash or dry?” Felicity asks. “Normally Evie would be helping but, well, I think she’s cried herself to sleep by now.” Oliver frowns at her words and Felicity back tracks slightly. “So, for her 4th birthday she wanted a pony and she wanted Tommy to buy her one. We said no because she can’t even look after a Tamagotchi let alone a pony. So she threw the biggest tantrum known to mankind. When we went to check on her, she was fast asleep clutching her favourite teddy. When she woke up, maybe like three or four hours later she woke up and she said sorry and cried a little bit. It’s just a phase I guess. I was lucky because for the most apart she was an angel through the terrible twos.”

He can’t judge her parenting method really, given the state of his family at the moment. He supposes that through it all his parents had never really taken an active role in parenting quite like Felicity had with Evie. Even from looking around the apartment he noticed all the pictures hanging up, all with Evie in them and most with Felicity as well. Tommy, Malcom and Laurel were spread throughout, along with pictures of a woman Oliver assumes to be Felicity’s mother. All the photos are happy, showing a beaming Evie at various ages and phases in her life. Not one of them is staged like a photo shoot, a stark contrast to his own family photos.

“You’re going to go through hell when she’s a teenager,” Oliver finally replies, stepping forward to the sink, answering her question without words. “I can just imagine it now.”

Felicity shudders. “Please lets not talk about that I still have a few years!”

“You’ll need a gun,” he continues jovially, a smile once again gracing his features.

“That’s why I’ve got you,” she retorts with a tilt of her head. It takes them both a few seconds. She then freezes when she realises what she says. “I just mean- that- like, we’re friends? And friends do that sort of thing for each other? Don’t they? I mean Tommy and I totally pretended that Evie was never going to age ever and that was totally alright with both of us because reasons. But totally not the point here. The point is- well I don’t actually know what the point is right now but there is one and I’m totally going to get to it. Eventually. Just not right this second.” She pauses for a breath before turning to face him fully. “Would now be a bad time to actually discuss what happened down in the lair.”

“The lair?”

“Would you rather me call it the arrow cave?”

“Can’t you call it the basement?”

“What type of name is ‘The Basement’?”

“Last time I checked it was a basement.”

“That’s not the point, you need to call it something different.”

“Like what?”

“The arrow cave or the lair. Duh.”

He opens his mouth to retort but nothing comes out as he realises that he’s managed to step right up close to Felicity, to the point that he can feel the heat radiating from her skin, and if he tilted his head down just a little bit more, he’d be able to kiss her again. She must notice as well, because her eyes move to focus on his lips, then glance back up so that her eyes meet his.

“We’re off topic,” she whispers, inching closer and closer towards him.

“I disagree.”

He brings his hands up to cup her face, cradling it lightly as he studies her blue eyes and the soft smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, the dimples she gets when she smiles and her bright pink lips that are mere millimetres away from his.

She sighs as little under his gaze, her own hands coming up so that one is resting over his heart and the other is around his neck, lessening the distance between them again.

“You should kiss me,” he whispers finally, nudging her nose slightly with his.

“But you’re just so damn pretty to look at,” she replies, licking her lips. She freezes slightly, her hand that had started stroking the side of his face stilling for a few moments.

“Thank you.”

“Most guys would object to being called pretty.”

“Most guys don’t have you in the arms when they’re being told it so it’s a non-issue, really.”

“You should kiss me.” She giggles and leans up on her tippy toes. “We should call it the Foundry.”

He frowns slightly. “That’s off topic.”

“Kiss me then.”

He doesn’t need to be told twice. He buries a hand in her hair and pulls her mouth to meet his. This isn’t like the first kiss they’d had, which had felt new and exciting and like someone was setting every nerve ending in his body alight. Instead it created this warmth in the pit of his stomach that spread up and through the rest of him, so that his entire body was tingling. He’d often thought of her as a ball of sunshine and in this moment, he doesn’t think he’s far from the truth.

As she deepens the kiss, he lifts her up onto the bench and moves to stand between her legs, toying with the bottom of her shirt, his fingers grazing over the smooth skin of her stomach. He moves away from her lips, peppering her neck with kisses as moves her hair out of the way and she tilts her neck to the side, allowing him better access.

“Momma? What are you doing?” Evie’s voice startles them both enough that Oliver jumps back at least a foot and Felicity very nearly falls of the bench. They both turn to look at the little girl who had changed from her ballet clothes into her PJ’s when she’d been sent to her room and who was clutching her very favourite teddy bear in her hands. Her hair was dishevelled, as if she’d been borrowed under blankets and her eyes were wide and still glassy.

“Oliver and I- uh- were- uh,” Felicity begins, straightening her shirt and trying to adjust her hair, while internally panicking at the sudden change in events.

“We were hugging,” Oliver chimes in before he can stop himself. Felicity whips round to look at him, a very clear expression written plain across her face. “But a special type of adult hugging.”

Felicity’s eyes go wider still as he keeps talking, shaking her head in warning and disbelief.

“It looked like you were kissing,” Evie points out, a frown on her face. “I didn’t know there was different types of hugging. Your type of hugging looked weird.”

“We were kissing sweetheart-”

“Like they do in the movies?” Evie questions. “Like when the prince and princess are about to get their happily ever after?”

Felicity blanches for a few seconds but manages to regain her composure. “Yes, exactly like that.”

“Then why did Oliver say that you were hugging?”

“You know that Oliver spent five years by himself on an island yeah?” Felicity asks, jumping down from the bench and taking a step closer to Evie. “Well now he gets confused about things.”

“Like hugging and kissing?”

“Exactly!”

Evie pauses thoughtfully for a few seconds and both Oliver and Felicity pray that she’ll change the topic soon.

“I think you should teach Oliver the difference between hugging and kissing then momma, so that he doesn’t get confused anymore,” Evie tells him, a wide grin spreading across her face. Felicity chokes on air and Oliver tries his hardest to cover up his snort in amusement, but Evie continues, completely forgetting about what she’d just walked in on. “So I wanted to say that I’m super sorry for before and that I think we should have a family dinner soon, maybe after my play! Because I miss Tommy and everyone else and it’s not fair that everyone is busy all the time.”

Felicity simply nods as her mind tries to play catch up with just how much everything had unravelled in the last five minutes. By some miracle, Oliver recovers just in time to meet Evie’s expectant gaze with an answer.

“A family dinner sounds wonderful, doesn’t it Felicity,” he nudges her with his foot and she forces a nod of her head, still unable to speak. “I guess that’s settled then.”

Evie nods her head, appeased and then turns her attention back to what had originally sent her into the kitchen.

Pancakes.

****

“Can you look at me?” Oliver asks for the fifth time in as many minutes. Evie had finally gone to bed, after chattering both of their ears off about how awesome the family dinner was going to be and what they were going to cook, and by ‘they’ she really meant Oliver and where they should have it.

Felicity shakes her head, fixing her gaze resolutely on the TV show she’d decided they would watch.

“Felicity,” Oliver murmurs, brushing her hair aside and nuzzling her neck. “Look at me.”

“Aren’t you the least bit embarrassed?” She asks him incredulously. “Because I am.”

He shrugs lightly. “My mother walked in on me with a random girl one morning.” He pauses as he thinks.  “So did my dad actually, and Thea as well. It becomes a non-issue especially when it was only a little neck nuzzling.”

Felicity rolls her eyes, pushing his face away before turning to face him fully. “I’m glad you can talk about it like it’s not the most mortifying thing in the world.”

Oliver lets out a laugh. “You worry to much.”

“Pot, meet kettle,” she grumbles.

“You know what will distract you again?” He asks her softly, leaning into her bubble again. “If I kissed you again.”

She nods in agreement before she can stop herself and suddenly she’s laying directly on top of Oliver, straddling him as she leans up on her hands. “That would be very distracting,” she agrees, running a finger down Oliver’s cheek as he leans into the palm of her hand.

“A good distraction or?”

“Good,” she whispers, bringing her head down so that she’s the one nuzzling his neck now. “Very, most definitely good.”

“That’s good,” he wheezes out as he feels a tongue run across his collar bone. “I thought I was the one supposed to be doing the distracting.”

Felicity grinds into him a little as she ponders his words. “I guess I just beat you to it. But there will be other times I’m sure.”

Oliver pulls away from her for the briefest of seconds, studying her intently. “Felicity?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t-”

“You know we don’t actually have to talk about this right?” She checks, moving to sit so that she is more fully on his lower region. “We haven’t talked yet. And do we need to?”

“Yes, we need to talk,” Oliver sighs. “I don’t, I care about you. And Evie. And I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and this, I don’t want this to be one of them.”

“Don’t break mine or my daughters heart and I think we should be fine.” She leans in close to him again. “Can we continue now please?”

“Felicity,” Oliver grounds out. “We need to talk.”

“We just did!”

“You’re just horny.”

“Can you blame me? Have you seen you do the salmon ladder?”

“We can’t talk when you’re sitting on top of me like that,” Oliver tells her, placing both hands on her hips to slow her rocking.

“Guess I’m not moving then.” She presses her weight down further, exactly in the right place and Oliver’s head rolls back in pleasure. He knows better then to argue with her right now, mostly because even though she’s half his size, he honestly doesn’t want to move.

“Do we have to do this on the couch? Apparently there’s a bed that’s like clouds somewhere in the apartment.” He sits up and wraps both arms around her, before moving to stand. Felicity is nodding, brushing her fingers through his hair.

“Down the hallway, second door on the left, can’t really miss it.”

****

He’s awoken to two sets of cold feet pressing against his legs and two tiny hands poking at his face.

“Morning Oliver!” Evie exclaims when he rolls over and almost knocks her off the bed. “Can you make me breakfast?”

A grumble comes from underneath the mountain of blankets that are wrapped around him. Evie gives the pile a withering look before turning her attention back to Oliver.

“What time is it?” He asks voice hoarse with sleep.

“Hmm, like 7:30?” Evie replies, pulling her mothers phone from the beside table and glancing at it curiously. “How come you stayed the night?”

Oliver tries to blink the sleep from his eyes, but they’re heavy and don’t want to cooperate with him and he can feel sleep bringing him back under. “Tired,” he manages to get out before his head falls back into the pile of pillows.

“Me too, I’ve got a big day today! We’ve got play rehearsal after lunch and then I’ve got soccer and ballet! That’s why I need a big breakfast because momma says it’s the most important part of the day.” Evie crawls over the top of him to sit on top of Felicity, who’s head has finally started poking out, having been woken by her daughter and Oliver.

“Evie, it’s too early.” Felicity says, pulling the little girl down between them. “Back to sleep for another hour or so!”

“Momma it’s 7:30 though, it’s time to get up otherwise we’ll be late!”

Felicity grumbles something under her breath again and rolls her eyes. “You do this every morning kiddo, and every morning we have the same conversation, now get your but under the covers or go back to your own bed.”

Oliver is still trying to play catch up when Evie slips under the covers between him and Felicity. Glancing out the window in Felicity’s room he can see that it’s still dark outside. “It’s not morning yet is it?”

Felicity shakes her head. “Nope! It’s a rather lovely 4:30 am. Now can we all get back to sleep please I need it to make me be nice to people tomorrow morning.”

All three fall into silence and within minutes Felicity is passed out asleep and snoring again.

“Hey Oliver,” Evie starts, her voice sounding drowsy. “Are you gonna stay over lots and lots now?”

“I don’t know,” he answers her honestly. “Depends on if you and your mom get sick of me?”

“Do you cook stuff other than pancakes?”

“Sure, I make a mean spaghetti and meatballs!”

“You’re in then. If you cook for us that is.”

“I think I can manage that,” he tells her.

Evie wiggles underneath the covers like her mom and after a few minutes, Oliver hears her soft snores as well. He lets the sound of their peaceful breathing soothe him as he tries to get back to sleep. Post island he doesn’t sleep a whole lot. Most of his time is spent at the club doing his actual job there, the rest of it is spent arrowing people. He doesn’t give himself time to sleep, because if he does then he hurts people.

The very thought startles him awake again and he fights every nerve in his body that is telling him that he needs to leave. He had said that he wouldn’t break Felicity’s or Evie’s heart and he knew that leaving in the cover of darkness after their first night together would be the same as actually breaking their hearts.

****

When he wakes up next it’s to Felicity hovering over him, her face just millimetres away from his.

“Morning,” he whispers, bringing a hand up to brush away the stray piece of hair that had fallen over her face.

“Morning,” she replies softly. “You’re needed in the kitchen.”

“Is that all I’m going to be used for around here? Cooking and a good lay?”

Felicity flushes as she pulls herself away from him and hopping out of bed. “Yup! Got a problem with that?”

He shakes his head in amusement.

“Fair warning, Evie’s already sent Tommy and Lance and Laurel an email inviting them over for dinner next week. So far, everyone has said yes, mostly because no one can actually say no to her straight out.” He watches on as Felicity potters around her bedroom, picking out the clothes that she’s going to wear for the day and choosing her shoes to match.

“That’s okay. We said it was fine.”

“I know but I’m just starting to realise how much of an awkward dinner this is going to be.” She holds up two skirts and studies them carefully. “Like you know, I don’t know what we are, but I know that Tommy and I are fighting, you and Tommy are fighting, you took Laurel and Lance’s sister and daughter respectively, on a boat where she died, Tommy and Laurel are fighting about god knows what this time, you and me both have secret night jobs that no one a part from Tommy knows about and I think that about covers it but do you get my drift? Awkward!”

“You can say no.”

“To Evie?”

“Well, yeah?”

“Impossible.”

“You basically grounded her last night!”

“That was different. This is family and what type of mother would I be if I decided that my kid couldn’t see the only family that she has? I’d be an unfit mother that’s for damn sure.” Felicity huffs, throwing her clothes back into the closest before slamming it shut. “And now I can’t pick what to wear.”

Oliver climbs out of bed, wrapping his arms around Felicity’s shoulders. “Calm down. Everything will be fine.”

“Famous last words,” she grumbles, sinking into his arms as he presses kisses to the side of her neck. “Do I want to wear panda flats?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity just didn't want to be kept apart. Which is annoying because I envisioned a more slow burn when I planned it but when the characters want something I can't not let them have it.
> 
> Next chapter will be the dinner party! Get keen guys because with all of the drama surrounding our favourite couples and characters things are surely going to come to a head and Evie might even have a puppy by the end of chapter if the adults can't behave themselves.
> 
> Enjoy!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait with this one! Unsurprisingly no one really felt like talking about their feelings in the chapter and they didn't feel like talking in my head sooooo....
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy!

He’d always given his mom and sister crap for putting so much effort into planning the elaborate parties’ QC had thrown over the years. They’d always been stressed beyond belief and picky over every single detail. He’d been of the opinion that the smaller details didn’t matter as much, that as long as there was booze on tap and good food and hot girls, everything would be fine.

That was until he’d had to help Evelyn put together her dinner party. Felicity had suggested it over breakfast the morning after the first night he’d spent with her and he hadn’t been able to say no once Evie had turned her big, sleepy blue eyes on him. The kid had a damn super power. To say Tommy had been surprised had been an understatement when, later that afternoon Oliver had picked up Evie from Tommy’s after an emergency had come up at the foundry.

They hadn’t really been able to say anything to one another, given that they had had Evie with them, but that hadn’t stopped Tommy’s glare when he realised that it wasn’t Felicity who’d met him, rather it was Oliver. But they’d kept it pleasant, simple hello’s how are you’s? And I’m good thanks, how’s life?

“I guess I’ll see you next week at dinner,” Oliver finally says as Evie finishes off her dinner.

Tommy frowns slightly before taking a gulp of water. “I thought only family was invited Evs.”

Oliver’s fist tightens as Tommy brings Evie into their argument. There were lines, after all.

Evie is frowning as she looks between the two of them. “Oliver is family! We adopted him like we adopted you!” Her tone of voice is startlingly similar to Felicity’s when she’s in a bad mood and about to use her loud voice. “I thought that’s what you wanted?”

“Right, totally forgot princess.” Tommy passes it off with a wave of his hand. “So yeah, I guess I’ll see you then. If something more important doesn’t come up.”

Oliver’s eyes narrow at the dig, but Tommy simply raises an eyebrow. “Nothing comes between family Tommy, isn’t that what you told me?”

Their harsh words are saved from leaving their mouths when Oliver’s phone starts ringing. It’s Felicity.

“Where are you guys?” She asks, slightly breathless.

“Tommy’s.”

“Right. Everything okay?”

“Yeah we’re about to leave.”

“Oh, right, yeah I guess I’ll see you soon.”

They hang up and he turns back to Tommy, who’s expression has only gotten stormier since he realised Oliver was on the phone to Felicity.

“You two seem close now,” he states coolly.

“We’re friends.”

“Right.” Tommy turns to Evie who is concentrating on the TV. “You should pack your stuff up Evs, so Oliver can take you home.”

Evie hops off the bar stool and starts to get her backpack ready.

“Are you excited for family dinner night Tommy? Because I am and Oliver is helping me plan it because momma says that it falls into his wheel house coz of the club and being rich and stuff,” she pauses as she ties her laces, her tongue poking out between her teeth. “And Oliver’s cooking as well so that momma doesn’t kill us all.”

Tommy makes noise that sounds suspiciously like a dying cat before he replies. “Yeah, sounds like fun.”

“Good!” Evie exclaims launching back up to her feet and running back to Oliver. “We can go now! See you Wednesday Tommy, please don’t be late!”

His encounters with Laurel and Lance had been similar to Tommy’s. Disbelief colours everyone’s tones when they learn that he’ll be the one cooking and that he’s helped Evie source decorations and candles and basically anything, within reason, that the little girl had wanted.

Which brings him back to his current predicament wherein Felicity is almost doubled over laughing as Oliver is placed on ‘hanging things’ duty and allows himself to be bossed around by a rather intimidating five-year-old. Evie had wanted lanterns floating around the room providing ‘mood lightening’ as she called it to increase the happy atmosphere in the room.

“Sweetie it’s lighting not lightening,” Felicity had said softly.

“Momma now is _not_ the time for a spelling lesson.”

Felicity had simply shrugged and made a gesture at Oliver that he read to mean, ‘she’s all yours now’.

That had been three hours ago.

The guests were due to arrive in exactly five minute and Evie was having a little bit of a breakdown.

“Higher Oliver!” She’d ordered, her voice going shrill causing both adults in the room to wince. “Higher!”

“Honey he’s touching the roof he literally cannot get any higher,” Felicity interjected calmly, her second glass of red secured firmly in her hand.

Evie huffed and handed him another streamer. “Over the door way.” Felicity shot her a look. Evie huffed again. “ _Please.”_

He takes it from her and hangs it up over the door way into the kitchen. “I think we’re perfect.”

“It’s awful.” Evie bemoans. “I thought it would look better.”

Out of the corner of his eye he sees Felicity hurriedly type out a text before winking at him and placing her phone back on the bench out of sight.

“It looks perfect honey. The others will love it I promise.”

As if on cue the doorbell rings at the same time as it swings open. Tommy, Laurel and Lance are all standing there taking in the decorations, phones clutched tightly in their hands.

“You made it!” Evie exclaims, running forward to force all three into a group hug.

“Evie,” Felicity fake coughs as they all start talking in the hallway. “Invite them in.”

Evie plays the gracious host as well as anyone can expect of a five year old with a blabber mouth and soon enough everyone, including Diggle, is sitting around the table as Oliver lays out all of the food. He’d probably made enough to food a small army, but he’d seen how much both Evie and Felicity had been able to eat and realised it probably wouldn’t be a problem.

“Everyone dig in!” Evie explained once all adults had a drink in their hand. “Oh wait!” She slaps a hand to her forehead. “I want us to go around the table and say something that we’re grateful for.”

Oliver has to admit that everyone sitting around the table have fairly impressive poker faces in front of Evie who is positively beaming at the idea.

“I’ll go first!” She declares, climbing up onto her chair despite the warning look Felicity gives her. “I’m grateful for all of you and for all the food that we have and for Netflix because it always has the best show and for the future dog that momma is gonna get me when I’m older. Which should be soon because I’m older now than what I was when I first asked momma, promise!” Evie climbs down and looks expectantly at Felicity.

“I’m also grateful for all of you and Netflix and a good glass of wine,” Felicity says simply before raising an eyebrow at Oliver.

“I’m grateful to be home.” He says, looking only at Felicity who blushes slightly and resolutely stares at her plate. “And for a comfy bed.”

“Shouldn’t it be plural?” Tommy snaps. “I mean, don’t we all know that Oliver stayed the night last night?”

Felicity chokes on her wine and Lance’s hand tightens around his knife. Diggle is bracing his head against his hands and Laurel looks like she wants to be anywhere but in the room with any of them. Evie is blissfully oblivious to the oncoming storm.

Casting his attention back to Felicity, he notices her red face turning from shock to extreme anger, causing Oliver to brace for Felicity’s well known loud voice, which he’d thankfully only heard a few times in the Foundry.

“Tommy, isn’t that enough wine?” It happens quickly, Felicity’s anger dissipating, being replaced with extreme calm. Her voice is even and steady with just enough of an edge that Oliver can tell she’s simmering with anger. “We wouldn’t want a repeat of two years ago.”

“Nothing good happened two years ago,” Evie speaks up, confusion written clear across her face. “I broke my leg and my arm and I wasn’t allowed to do anything for a really long time. Momma said so. And Tommy never came over when I was hurt and that sucked.”

Tommy glares in Felicity’s direction. “Did you put her up to this?”

“Of course not!” Felicity exclaims. “Have you _met her?”_

Tommy huffs, swallowing the rest of his wine in one gulp. “You have a point.”

Felicity tilts her wine glass in his direction with a slight nod. “Thank-you.”

“I think we should change topics!” Evie announces, climbing onto her seat again despite Felicity’s feeble protests. She reaches into her dress pocket and pulls out what look like flash cards. “What’s the strangest thing that’s ever happened to you? Papa Lance can you start please?”

“This dinner, without a doubt.” Lance answers straight-faced.

“Papa Lance that’s not a real answer,” Evie tells him. “I want a story.”

“I don’t have one kiddo.” He replies with a shrug. “Actually, I distinctly remember coming home from work one day to find a fifteen year old goth sitting at my kitchen counter eating my only loaf of garlic bread while my daughter did her homework next to her.”

Everyone’s gaze flicks to Felicity who blushes and glares down at her wine. “It was good garlic bread.”

“You were a goth momma?”

“No!” Felicity exclaims. At Lance’s raised eyebrow she rolls her own. “Yes. I don’t talk about those days.”

“Rebellious hacker who helps the police?” Lance questions. “You helped us out of a few tough spots kiddo. I think I still owe you.”

Oliver raises an eyebrow at Lance’s comment and Felicity shakes her head just slightly.

“What a surprise, Felicity Smoak playing both teams?” Tommy comments, an edge of disgust in his tone. “Wonders never cease.”

“Tommy,” Laurel warns. “I think Felicity was right.”

“Like you’re one to talk Laurel,” Tommy replies. “You know how to drink more than me!”

“Stop it! We’re having a nice family dinner and you won’t ruin it for me!” Evie exclaims once again standing up on her seat. “What is everyone’s problem anyway? Why is everyone fighting? Why are you being so mean Tommy? I don’t understand!”

Evie’s outburst silences them all and makes Tommy glare down at his drink.

“Evie, settle down, and for the love of god, please sit on your chair properly!”

Evie simply glares at her mother in response, choosing not to reply. “No! We’re a family and when you’re a family, no one gets left behind. And we’re all leaving people behind right now and I want to know why! In fact, no one gets to eat until everyone’s problems are sorted.”

Oliver can’t help but frown at the thought of his food going cold, but figures that he really shouldn’t deny this to Evie, otherwise he’s not sure Felicity’s good plate settings are going to survive. The kid has deadly accuracy and he can’t help but think that she’d be good with a bow and arrow. Not that she’s ever going to handle one if he has anything to say about it.

“Evie, Oliver has gone to a lot of trouble to feed us all, to withhold said food from everyone would be criminal.”

“Something you’re familiar with then?” Tommy grumbles under his breath.

“STOP GRUMBLING.” Evie all but yells. Everyone falls silent. “I’m going to go first. My problem with you all is that momma and Tommy aren’t talking, Oliver and Tommy aren’t talking, and I really need them all to be talking because I think Oliver is going to be my stepdad soon if all these sleepovers keep happening.” Evie pauses and looks around at everyone expectantly, waiting for anyone seated around the dinner table to voice their own opinions.

“Sleepovers?” Lance questions, his face flushing. “What is it about you that drives all the girls to do stupid stuff.”

“Dad,” Laurel hisses.

“No, seriously, what is it that you see in him? What did Sara see in him? And come on kid, you’re smarter than this.” Lance’s hand is tightening around his tumbler by the second and his face turns a startling shade of red as his anger gets the best of him.

“Oliver is nice!” Evie declares simply. “He pushes me super high on the swings and he makes awesome pancakes and he always gives momma a cup of coffee the moment she gets out of bed because he doesn’t like to see her grumpy.” Evie turns to look at him a beaming smile spread across her face. “I’m glad we adopted you.”

He laughs softly. “I’m glad you adopted me too.”

“Can we stop with the cutesy please?” Tommy asks. “I feel like I’m going to be sick.”

“Just because all of your relationships have been mildly dysfunctional?” Felicity snaps. “You can’t stand the fact that Oliver might be happy without the booze and the girls and the drugs because it means that you have to face what I’ve been telling you for the last five years.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit.”

“Momma!”

“You didn’t want to change because you were scared that if you did, you’d be leaving him behind. And that broke your heart more then you’ll ever care to admit because he was your family before Evie and I came along. But now? Now you’ve seen that he’s changed for the better and the time you wasted holding yourself back was for nothing. Because he’s letting himself change for the better where you just drown your sorrows in booze and pills and girls and fast cars.”

Tommy stares stony faced at Felicity. “Anything else you want to get off your chest while you’re on a role.”

“No. I think that’s it.”

“Well I guess I should consider myself lucky that we’re not bringing up being an unfit parent.”

“Why would I? It’s not as if you are one.”

“Okay, I think that’s enough.” Lance says, holding up his hands as both Felicity and Tommy straighten in their seats as though they’re getting ready for a fight. “Let’s just finish the food and head home, it is a school night after all and Evie needs her sleep.”

“No I think this is something we should talk about.” Tommy is shaking his head, completely disregarding Lance’s words. “I’m sorry, but I distinctly remember being there for nappy changes and doctors’ appointments and I’m fairly sure that I was the one whose hand was broken during the whole birthing process.”

“What’s your point?”

“Does that mean nothing?”

“It starts to mean less when I tell you to clean up your act and instead of listening to me you get in a car crash with my daughter and almost kill her!” Felicity’s voice gets louder as she speaks and she’s standing by the time she’s finished a finger pointed in Tommy’s general direction. “I will never forget the fact that you let us in so easily, and most of the time I’m fine with what happened. We all make mistakes and that’s just a part of life. But Tommy, this wasn’t just a one off. This was multiple incidents that never made it past the police scanners because your lovely father paid off the police on scene. Sorry Detective.”

“Felicity-”

“Evie almost took the pills of Vertigo, Tommy.”

Laurel’s knife clatters to the table and Oliver freezes, his entire body becoming tense.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t bullshit me.”

“I don’t I swear.”

“You don’t remember or you were to wasted too remember because there is a difference last time I checked.”

Crickets.

“Why is everyone being so mean to each other? We’re a family!”

Felicity sighs, pulling her daughter into her arms. “We are a family Evie, but sometimes families go through things and they’re not always happy. This is just one of those moments.”

“How do you fix it?”

“You talk it through.”

“Then you should do that,” Evie says definitively.

“We have been.”

“No,” Evie grumbles petulantly. “You’ve been yelling.”

Evie’s statement causes all the adults around the table to find literally anything other than each other and Evie to look at. She’s not wrong, not by a long shot.

“That’s a fair shot, Evs, and I promise we don’t mean to shout and stuff but we just have really _bad_ tempers, just like you. And you know how when you throw a temper tantrum and trash your room? Well, this is just like that, but instead of trashing a room we trash each other’s feelings.” Tommy is leaning forward, talking directly to Evie, ignoring everyone else at the table.

“Tommy,” Felicity splutters. “I don’t think that’s the best way to word that.”

“If the shoe fits right?” Tommy makes a quick glance at Lance who’s eyebrows are well into his hairline at the turn this particular conversation has taken. “And can we please not talk about my drug habits in front of a police officer before I get myself arrested?”

“Don’t do drugs, don’t get arrested,” Lance mutters gruffly.

“I think we should put a hold on all conversations that aren’t happy and shiny and family friendly, personally,” Felicity says. “Tommy made a good point. We’re all angry and we all have issues but they shouldn’t be brought out in the open for everyone to hear.”

Tommy raises his glass. “Here here. Flick, that’s the first thing that’s come out of your mouth tonight that I’ve actually liked hearing.”

“Right back atcha.”

“But you’ll sort out your problems?” Evie asks, her head still buried in her mothers shoulder, muffling her voice.

“We sure will princess, but it won’t happen overnight?” Tommy glances up at Felicity who is staring back at him, wine glass resting at her bottom lip, a slight smile on her face.

“Why not?” Evie is still pouting, her hands resting on her hands as she sits up on her chair so that she’s leaning closer to Tommy.

“You know when you trash your room and it takes forever to clean up? This is like that, it takes time and a lot of hard work,”

“Okay. But please don’t take forever! I miss you.”

“I miss you too, pumpkin,” Tommy replies softly, standing up from his side of the table and walking around to Evie. “Come here.” He opens his arms to her once he’s standing next to her and she immediately climbs into them, arms wrapping around his neck and snuggling her face into the crook of Tommy’s neck. “Love you, Evs.”

“Love you too!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This touches on a fair few topics but it also starts the healing process for all of the characters. Like they explain to Evie, fixing things takes time and the issues these three have to deal with will take longer than one dinner conversation.


End file.
